Without a price?
by cleopatra1
Summary: Sam has finally succeeded in adopting a baby, but is it really without a price? This story takes place a month or so after Lila is stillborn. Might be a jasonsam romance. Prologue up, and elizabeth lovers beware: I do tend to bash her if she shows up.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: No, I do not own GH.

Without a price?

Prologue

Sam lay in bed, looking at the wall. She tightly wrapped her hands around her stomach. At one point there was a healthy baby there and she would never forget that. She still could feel its kick, the joy it created in her. Sure, she really should have used birth control, but she had learned her lesson.

Many said that the baby being stillborn was a blessing. That her father would only bring misery to her life, threaten it. Coming from Alexis, she had a good point, if not a cruel and insensitive one. But she would well risk it if it meant her daughter could live again. She would not though. And she did not know how to let go of that.

She still wanted a baby. The adoption agencies she had been to have been gracious but suggested that she wait for a while. Get over her loss first. She is though, or as much as she would ever be. No child could ever take the place, she did not want it to but she still wanted to be a mother so badly.

Still staring at the wall, she heard her cell phone ring. She reached over to the side table and grabbed it and numbly said a hello. She quickly stood up as she listened to the person on the other line.

"A private adoption?" She asked and heard the person's reply. "No, it's not a problem." Sam dismissed that concern, sure it would look a little suspicious but she wanted something to pour her love into. It was not like she was going to start trusting men again.

"Okay, I'll meet you in an hour." Sam quickly wrote down the place on a piece of paper near her bed. She then hung up the phone, got into some comfortable clothes, and put on a pair of shoes. She grabbed her keys and then she was gone.


	2. Chapter 1

Without a price?

Chapter 1

Sam was happily watching her little infant daughter sleep in the crib she bought the other day. Sure she would never carry her blood, but she didn't care. The baby was an angel sent from God, she was sure. She could not remember being this happy for the last month or so. It felt good.

The person who requested the private adoption had given her a few supplies the mother had. Apparently she wanted ever so much to raise her daughter, but had gotten sick a few weeks after childbirth. She would die a week later, from what was not said. The father had abandoned her during the pregnancy and therefore the child itself.

She would take care of it though, she promised the person who delivered this little miracle that. They only had one request and that was to keep her first name as Eleanor. Soon it would be Eleanor McCall. She was still working on finding a middle name for the child, if she wanted one at least. She had not decided yet.

The adoption was not quite official yet, there was still some paperwork that needed to be done. But she had the right to take the child home with her, to see if the baby was comfortable with her and Sam was comfortable with Eleanor. The first time she had held and looked at the baby, Sam had fallen in love.

She was such an adorable little child, a little too quiet though. That was expected, however, as time would go on she was reassured that she would become more vocal. It was a transition for everyone, a beautiful one. She could not wait to hear its laugh or see its smile.

Sam looked across the room at the ticking clock and saw that quite a bit of time went by already. She would have to awaken the child soon; they needed to be off to the hospital. Eleanor needed to be registered at the hospital, and she had gotten the medical file from the last place. The baby seemed completely healthy, but one could never be so sure.

She was also told it might look better when the final paperwork went through. She needed to be presented as a mentally stable mother dedicated to the care of this child. She was determined to be that as well. The child needed someone to care for her and love her, and Sam just wanted to be loved for who she was. It was a perfect arrangement.

She had barely left her apartment for the last couple of days, only going when something was necessary. She probably needed to stock up on supplies after the hospital but she thought it smart that she see if the baby needed any medication before doing so. No sense wasting gas and money on two trips. This little bundle of joy would need both if Sam was to take good care of her.

Because she had not gotten out yet, no one really knew of Eleanor. Today was the day though. She was going to show all of them how great of a mother she would be. She would make a stand saying the only relationship she wanted was a motherly one. She was dedicated only to her child, no man. It would stay like that until she wanted it otherwise, which was not in the near future. Who cares what everyone else will think? She was a mother of an angel named Eleanor and a proud one at that.

And that was exactly what she represented when she stomped into the hospital, carrying a baby carrier in her hand and a baby bag over her left shoulder. Taking the elevator up, she took a deep breath and exited as soon as the door opened. She walked to the counter where a nurse was.

The nurse looked up from what she was writing and saw Sam. "How can I help you?" She asked.

"My daughter has an appointment with a pediatrician." Sam told the nurse.

The nurse turned to look for a file when Sam told her daughter's name. "There is no file for Eleanor McCall." The nurse replied.

"She has never been here before, she is a new patient." Sam answered.

"Then you need to fill out this paperwork. Include a birth certificate or some sort of identification for the child." The nurse responded, and then looked down at the carrier in her hand. "Are you the birth mother?" She asked.

"Adoptive," Sam said, fully expecting that question from the beginning.

"You will also need some identification saying you are its legal guardian." The nurse explained, and Sam took the paperwork and went to the sitting area to fill it out. Working through the applications, she glanced often at Eleanor, making sure she was okay. She was fast asleep every time, and showed no signs that her dreams were nightmares. As she finished, she saw Bobbie approaching the nurse's desk, taking over the shift.

She quickly piled the pieces of paper, took the carrier and bag and approached the desk. Sam handed her the papers. Bobbie looked through them and looked up at her. "You adopted?" She asked, as she shuffled them into a folder, marking it with "Eleanor McCall".

"Yes, I did." Sam answered and Bobbie nodded her acceptance to that. Sam was glad that she did not try to comment on how quickly she did. And it was not actually that long, a month and nearly two weeks was plenty of time. You also had to jump when you have the chance, because she was far from the only one who wanted to adopt. She did and she did not regret it one bit.

"Dr. Macken is with another patient at the moment, but will be done soon. Take a seat over at the waiting area. Someone will approach you when he is done." Bobby instructed her and Sam did as she said.

As she sat down, Eleanor started to fuss so Sam took her out of her carrier and into her arms. She reached into the baby bag and pulled out a bottle, assuming she was hungry. She was right; as Eleanor busily started sucking on it. Holding the bottle and watching her feed, she did not see Jason stop by her until he spoke up.

"You adopted a little girl?" Jason did not know why he was surprised, but he was.

Sam looked up at her former beau and saw his presence. Sam looked back at her daughter when she started fussing when Sam's hand let the bottle leave its mouth. She made it accessible again and answered Jason. "I did. Her name is Eleanor." She introduced the two.

Jason took the seat next to her. "Mother did not want her?" He asked, as he glanced at the baby's head. It had some hair on it, so it must be more than a month old.

"Actually she did, she just got sick and died. The father abandoned her during the pregnancy." Sam explained, she added that second part knowing Jason would ask that as well. Answering both at the same time would save time.

"Then it's good she has you then." Jason replied. "I always knew you would be a good mother."

"You did, though I have wondered in the past few days just how good of a mother I am." Sam responded, glancing at Eleanor, "I have no idea how to read this kid yet." Sam, still to this day, was amazed to see how easily it was to talk to Jason, even after everything. She could tell her deepest worries to him and know he would not tell anyone else them.

"Like everything, it takes time and experience." Jason commented, comfortable in this conversation.

"Yeah," Sam agreed and looked over at Jason. How easy it would be to fall in love with him again…. Sam snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Eleanor fuss again. She took the bottle, put it back in the bag and put the child on her shoulder. She gently patted her on the back so the child could burp. Then the child was satisfied again in Sam's arms, just looking at her surroundings in silence.

Sam thanked Eleanor's timing. Her thoughts were getting out of control. There would be no men for her. She was dedicated to Eleanor and her only. She could not fall in love, could not start a relationship. She didn't mean that, Sam convinced herself, it was just the overflowing emotions of the child and the lack of sleep she has got recently. Yeah, that was it.

Jason stood up and glanced at his watch, judging it she guessed. "I have to go; I am to meet my sister for dinner tonight." He told her and Sam nodded. Emily now had an apartment in New York City. Jason would have had to calculate travel time in there.

As Jason left, the doctor approached her and introduced himself. Sam in turn followed the doctor to where her daughter would be checked on.

Author's note: Hey guys, thanks for all the good reviews. I'm glad you liked the prologue. I only hope I can keep it up. I do have a warning though: I am in summer school. This is my last three weeks in it, so I really need it to concentrate. So I can't exactly promise another update in the near future. But it is possible that I will get really sick of the research paper that I have to write and need to blow of some steam...

FYI: This is going to be mostly AU. Do not count me on using the other storylines going on at this time, because I do not remember them.


	3. Chapter 2

Without a price?

Chapter 2

Sam smiled as she heard that Eleanor was completely healthy. "She does not need any shots or anything?" She asked the doctor, as she placed Eleanor in her carrier, who fell asleep almost automatically. Sam first thought that babies at this number of weeks were awake more. Then again, the doctor did say every child is different.

The doctor looked over Eleanor's medical records once more. "No, she seems perfectly cared for previously. You usually do not find that with adopted babies." Dr. Macken answered. "Do you have any other questions? I assume this is your first child."

Sam smiled uneasily; she did have one more question that was quietly nagging at her. "Well, now that you mention it, the adoption woman said that Eleanor's father was partially color blind. I have heard that females rarely get the condition, but is there a way to make sure?"

"Absolutely, my strongest advice is to go to an optometrist and see if he can do any tests. You must wait until she is three months though. No baby is able to see color until they are that age; even then it may be hard to tell. I would not worry about that now though." The doctor responded.

"Alright," Sam replied, taking the carrier and bag after she told the doctor to have a goodbye and thanks. As she was shuffling out and resifting her weight, she came across Dr. Monica Quartermaine. She did not know her that well but they weren't complete strangers either.

"Do you need any help?" Monica questioned her as Sam finally got the carrier and bag in a position that was comfortable with her.

"No, I'm good now but thanks." Sam said, noting Monica was looking into the carrier, she figured she should introduce them. "This is Eleanor."

"About six weeks old I imagine?" Monica asked she glanced at the sleeping baby.

"Almost seven actually," Sam corrected her.

"So you are correct. It's great that you adopted Sam, there are many babies out there who need a good parent but do not have one." Monica mentioned, looking Sam in the face.

"Yeah, I know. The paperwork is a bit much but well worth everyday I have with Eleanor, but I guess you know that." Sam quickly remembered that Emily was adopted, so she was quick to say the last part of the sentence.

"Yes, Emily." Monica murmured, "Have you seen or talked to my daughter lately? I know you and Jason spent a lot of time together so you got to know Emily. She has a soft spot for her second eldest brother."

"No, actually I have not seen or talked to her for a month or so." Monica's face fell so Sam felt she needed to mention Jason and Emily's dinner plans. "But Jason said he and Emily had dinner plans tonight."

"Oh, well, that's good." Monica commented as her beeper went off and Monica quickly excused herself. Sam glanced at Monica's fleeting form, reading between the lines. So Emily was not talking to her mother again. She could have sworn they just started talking to each other again though. Either Emily had a loose fuse or Monica and Alan just really knew the wrong things to say. Or maybe both, it was no secret Monica and Alan was not the greatest parents.

Checking to see her daughter was okay, she was set to leave when she came across Alexis and Kristina who were passing by in the hall. It took Alexis exactly five seconds to note the baby carrier and bag.

"No adoptive baby will ever make up for the one you lost Sam," Alexis remarked, to which Sam wanted to take offense to but decided it was better to let it go. She did not care what Alexis or anyone thought. This baby needed someone to love and care for her, and she just happened to fit the position. That was the only thing that mattered.

"And no one said Eleanor would," Sam stated stubbornly, pushing her chin up. "Now, good day" She told Alexis. Sure it was rude, but what did she expect with that remark?

"That's a rude thing to teach to your daughter," Alexis called out to her back.

Sam took a second and turned back to Alexis. "Look who's talking," Sam motioned toward Kristina, who was well aware of her mother's actions. Satisfied that she took a stand, Sam walked away feeling much better than she had been.

She was not that vulnerable anymore to take any insensitive comments from Alexis. Alexis would get that same treatment from Sam as well until she stopped her own ways. After all, karma has more an affect than people know or recognize on their lives.

Jason knocked on Emily's apartment door and received no response. Sure, the normal person would just take that as a sign that the occupant was not home but he was not normal. He knew better and he knew that Emily was in her apartment, she just did not want company. She had not wanted company for far too long though. It made him worried. She had not been to Port Charles for weeks, which was unlike her. Therefore, he still stood at the door. He knocked again, determined to see his sister and make sure about her wellbeing. .

If she would not open the door, then he would just pick the lock. Normally he would not go that far, but this was a special occasion. Emily had not given him an extra key to her apartment either, though he really should mention that he wanted one. The door swung open finally and he found himself staring at his sister. One look at her face and he knew he would not get a welcome reception.

Emily quickly turned away, but left the door open for him to enter. She knew how stubborn he can be and decided against ignoring him further. Jason was not one to give up in such cases like this. "I knew I shouldn't have opened the door," she muttered as Jason closed the door behind him. Okay, so he admitted it, he lied to Sam about having dinner plans with his sister. It was actually a surprise visit.

Jason looked around her small apartment. It had a living room, a small kitchen to the side and two closed doors. One was to her bedroom, the other was another exit or entrance (it depended on how one used the door) to the bathroom. It was tidy and organized, except for the pile of papers that were scattered on the small table that was her dining table. That in itself was a mess.

He followed his sister into the kitchen, and watched as she grabbed a glass from a cupboard. She filled the glass with tap water, and walked over to the counter where she had placed two small pills. She took the pills, drank a few gulps of water, and put the glass down.

"Headache," Jason asked, as he studied his sister. She was somewhat paler than when he last saw her. She also lost some weight, and the make up she had put on did not do much to cover the bags she had under her eyes. It was as he expected: in this time of trouble she let her health go.

"More like a migraine," Emily answered his question, not looking him in the face. She knew what she would find: worry and perhaps some pity. Things she would really not like to see at the moment or in the near future. Convincing him that she was fine would be useless; she well knew she looked less than healthy. She'd never be able to pull it off.

"Are you busy tonight?" He questioned her, knowing fully well she probably did not. Emily had not gone out too much recently. She had been pretty preoccupied and held a lot of burdens at the moment. She was trying to work through them but somehow they always seemed to be increasing rather decreasing. It was also obvious Emily was not responding to that well.

"Um, yeah, actually," Emily replied, surprising him to a small extent. But he quickly figured out that it did not mean getting out of this apartment. It had something to do with those piles of papers on the dining room table though. Anyone could be certain of that. "And for the entire weekend as well." She verified.

Her plans probably had her cornered in this place, with some kind of alcohol next to her, working on all the paperwork she had to do. Normally you would find the alcohol part of it surprising but Emily actually had a very high alcohol tolerance. Alcohol actually spurred her brain into action, helped her concentrate, and some great work and ideas came from it. It was a rare thing, alcohol usually does the opposite. Not in Emily though. It was one of her unique attributes.

"Let me guess you plan on having some kind of alcohol beverage that will spur you into getting all your work done." Jason revealed that he could easily guess that. He was one of the few though. Monica or Alan could not even imagine that Emily would do that. Then again, that relationship was again strained. It was remarkable how fast Monica and Alan could say the wrong thing.

"Hasn't failed me yet," Emily justified. He did not deny that was false, it had miraculous results but still basic needs needed to be met. She needed some subsidence, a couple hours of sleep, and help. She would deny she needed those things though, especially the last one.

"And I don't foresee it ever doing so, but you are going to prolong those plans for an hour at the very least. We are going to dinner," he ordered, her taking her by the elbow and pulling her from the kitchen. Emily started to argue but Jason was quick to interrupt any reasoning she had to not do so. "And then, when we come back you will be free to follow your previous plans, after you tell me what I can do to help."

"I don't know how much you can do in a couple of hours." Emily commented, as Jason handed her purse. She searched through it for her keys to lock the door, as she walked.

"Well, then it's a good thing I am prepared to stay the whole weekend." Jason responded though he could not say Emily was too excited about that.

"You can't stay the weekend," Emily argued, "I don't have a guest room." Emily quickly criticized herself for using that lame excuse. She really needed better material when it came to uninvited guests. Usually she could use the roommate would not like it excuse but she no longer had a roommate. He had recently gotten married so she had moved out to make way for his…spouse. If that is what you could call it.

"You have a couch, don't you?" Jason figured waving the issue as solved even though Emily saw it was not.

"Yes, but-"Emily's statement was cut off by Jason who again moved in to stop any arguments from her. She really was well into this independent streak.

"So problem solved," Jason shrugged as they left her apartment building, then stopped before the entrance. He turned to look at her, "Emily you can't do this by yourself, no matter how much you think you can." Emily looked away, still keeping herself from admitting that.

"But this is not the time to argue about that, so come on." Jason pushed her forward and luckily Emily's stomach won out as she accepted his dinner invitation. He did not care to argue with Emily but sometimes it was necessary. It was unfortunate this was one of those times. Sad thing was it was not even Emily's fault; she got trapped into these times.


	4. Chapter 3

Without a price?

Chapter 3

Sam did not count on running into Jason when she took Eleanor for a walk in her stroller. She had never seen Jason look so worse for wear, which made her wonder what he did this weekend. Jason was not one to drink alcohol overly much, so it was probably something else than the usual long weekend of drinking.

"Jason, you look, um…" Sam debated telling him the truth or going with a lie. Luckily, Jason interrupted her decision and made it for her. She was really stuck between being a good Christian and being one of those people who were too blunt for their own good.

"Pretty bad," Jason filled in the rest of her sentence, apparently aware of what he looked like. He had some facial hair showing which meant he had not shaved in a couple days and he had some almost indistinct bags under his eyes. He also looked kind of pale, but probably just needed some rest most of all.

"I take it was a busy weekend for you?" Sam supposed, almost tempted to laugh at Jason's expense but didn't in the end. She wondered if it had anything to do with Emily, not that she knew what was happening with her anymore than Emily's own mother.

"Yeah, it was actually." Jason responded, continuing "People have been forcing a lot of work on Emily, so I thought I would try and help her out over the weekend."

Sam smiled, noting mentally how nice that was of Jason. Jason had a soft spot for Emily though and you could see that no matter how hard Jason hid it. "That was awfully nice of you. Did you help her any?" Sam replied, being well able to predict the second sentence's answer though.

"Well, I hope I did. Emily had the workload of five or six people combined." Jason told her, rubbing his eyes from lack of sleep. Sam was astonished at Jason's estimate.

"Emily thought she could do that much alone?" Sam asked, amazed at that confidence, which was probably a little too strong with that amount of work.

"Yeah, she did. Throughout her whole life people have had this unfortunate tendency to let her down so she often ends up doing it herself, be it a school project or work assignment. She finds it very difficult to ask and accept help because of it." Jason explained.

"Well, it's good you are not one of those people," Sam said optimistically. "I ran into Monica at the hospital on Friday. Apparently Emily is not talking to her." Sam commented, curiosity overwhelming her common sense. Normally that would be none of her business, and she would not usually ask for such information, but it just came out this time. It must be lack of sleep.

"She's not talking to many of the Quartermaines, except maybe Ned, Lila, or Justus." Jason, still to this day, did not count himself as a Quartermaine. "One would think they would learn, but nothing Emily ever does satisfy Edward, Monica, and Alan." Jason mentioned, though Monica usually was the easier one to deal with, at least in Sam's experience.

"Did they not get the memo that says to respect your children's decisions?" Sam suggested, glancing at Eleanor in the stroller. That was one thing she would be sure to do, most of the time anyway. She was sure there was going to be instances. Thankfully that was not in the near future.

"They got it but they never read it," Jason murmured.

"Right, that second part is the most important one." Sam duly noted, nodding her head in understanding. "But, here I am, leaving you into a conversation when you really need to get some sleep."

"Its fine Sam, I like talking to you." Sam's jaw almost dropped. Was that a compliment? From Jason and spoken in public areas? Jason went on though, as if he never said such things. "Besides, you are probably facing the same circumstances as me with Eleanor."

"She's a good girl so it's not that bad, but I will probably never like 2 AM feedings." Sam said, tucking the blanket around Eleanor. It had fallen lower when Eleanor shifted positions in the stroller as she fell asleep probably. She was one wiggly child when she slept.

"You wouldn't be a sane person if you did Sam." Jason noted, looking into the stroller. "Maybe that is what I should be doing."

Sam did not know what he meant at first, but then after looking at Eleanor, realized what he meant. She laughed, again adjusting the blanket, feeling kind of nervous with that comment and being careful to not wake the sleeping baby. "We have to get going anyway. I have to be at the court house in a couple of hours so that Eleanor's adoption can be finalized."

"So soon," Jason asked, surprised at the quickness of this adoption and perhaps a bit suspicious.

"Yeah, it couldn't have been too soon for me though." Sam related to his surprise but couldn't be happier. Eleanor was going to be hers, she would finally get her own little girl, if not by blood, legally.

"That's great Sam but," Jason paused, unable to keep from yawning. "I really need some sleep." He finished.

Sam laughed again. She had never seen Jason so tired; he really was quite amusing when he was sleepy. She saw him off and then started back to her apartment….well, their apartment. It was their home, where a small family consisting of mother and infant daughter, was just starting out.

When she arrived at the court house a few hours later, dressed in her a blouse and slacks, she was immediately called in. It was a short meeting, one that was quick to the point. She gave the judge all the proof that she had to show him that she had the resources, ability, and opportunity to be a good parent to Eleanor. That was what they were looking for.

The judge approved what she had given him after searching it for flaws and worries. There was luckily just one. "Your savings account won't last forever, Ms. McCall. Do you plan to get a job soon?" He quizzed her, again searching for any faults and any wrong reactions to his question. The behavior was kind of unnerving but Sam took a breath and answered his inquisition.

"I do, I just feel right now that I have to learn how to be a good mother before trying to be a working mother." Sam replied, somehow seeing that coming and sincerely hoping that he would see that reason enough for her to keep Eleanor in the long haul. She still needed to prove herself; she knew that and was ready for the challenge. Eleanor just had to be her motivation and courage, which went without asking.

The judge nodded, seemingly accepting her plan. He took out a piece of paper and signed it. He handed it to her. It was a certificate of authorization that she was the legal guardian of Eleanor. "A social worker will stop in to see how you are holding up in another month." He informed her, and she again suspected this. "If they do not agree that you are fit to raise Eleanor, she will be taken away from you. So I suggest you put all your attention on the care of this child." The judge warned her gravely. Sam knew he was only trying to help though and did not take it personally, as many females would have done so.

"Absolutely," Sam agreed, some fear striking her with the grave warning. She did not know if she could survive losing another child. To say goodbye again…she did not even want to imagine the possibility!

She thanked the judge, and left the room and entered into the wide hallway of the court house. She smiled pleasantly and found the subject of many recent questions sitting on a bench. She approached the granite bench.

"Emily, you're in Port Charles." Sam remarked, noticing it was not for personal reasons. She had her uniform on, which consisted of wrinkleless pants, freshly shined combat boots, and medaled coat. Her hat was by her side. That was all you usually found Emily in.When you were in the New York National Guard it nearly took over your entire life, it seemed.

"Sam," Emily noted, seeing the baby carrier but not suggesting that she did to Sam.

"I heard Jason was with you this weekend." Sam said, striking up a conversation. She sat next to Emily on the bench and placed Eleanor and the carrier on the floor next to her feet so she could easily be observed.

"He was," Emily confirmed and continued, "It was almost like he lived there." Emily explained, coming off slightly ungrateful. Sam knew that she was just stressed though, and she herself hated when her privacy was upset like that. She really did not mean that that way, Sam was sure of that. Emily would be grateful in another time and day, and in certainly another mood.

Nonetheless, Sam did not know how to respond to that. Eleanor did though, as she started to let out a small scream that Sam interpreted as her attention cry. Saved by Eleanor once again, she scooped up her daughter in her arms. "This is Eleanor," She mentioned, changing the subject. It seemed like the best idea as Eleanor stopped screaming and took a wide look at the stranger that was sitting next to Sam.

Emily's brows slightly rose, but other than that Emily had a blank look on her face. Then again, she was working and in her job caring and hesitating may just get you killed. She did not dare ask why Emily was here either. Emily couldn't tell her, it was confidential. The kind of stuff that could get you killed for knowing the wrong thing and being at the wrong place.

"You adopted." Emily commented, finally officially noticing the baby but said nothing more.

"I did, isn't she precious?" Sam asked, feeling the pride of motherhood and loving such feelings again. Eleanor responded to this question by sticking her hands in the air, almost as if reaching to be near Emily.

She must be curious about this stranger, but she did not do that to Jason. Maybe it was a female thing; she had been asleep when Monica and Alexis were around. Then again, she did hear that Emily had a certain motherly sense when it came to children. Eleanor must be sensing that, being such a smart girl.

"She is," Emily agreed, well aware of Eleanor's response to her presence and did not like the behavior one bit. It wasn't good for infants to reach out to strangers like that, especially the ones that can be potentially dangerous. That kind of naivety could lead to death with those people.

"Would you like to hold her?" Sam asked, well assuming the answer would be yes though she asked it as a question.

"I am on the clock, it may not be the best idea to-" Emily started declining but somehow ended up with Eleanor in her arms before she could complete her sentence. "Do it now," Emily finished dryly with some annoyance present. Eleanor took kindly to Emily though, getting rather comfy in Emily's arms much to Emily's somewhat apparent dismay.

"See? She likes you." Sam observed, happy to see that she took to Emily at least. She was worried no one would like her newly adopted daughter and that she would be a loner as a result. Such fears were probably completely unnatural and showed that she overreacted.

"Yeah, imagine that." Emily said, with some wonder. Sam thought it was wonder at least. She heard from others that when working Emily was not one to normally show or express emotion. Such positions needed full awareness and certainly no blocking of the mind, emotions did tend to do that to a person. She certainly needed a clear mind as a sergeant, a recent promotion given to her for her dedication to her work and strong commanding ability and discipline.

Eleanor fell asleep promptly so Emily gave Sam back Eleanor, to place in the carrier again. Then the two parted as the court doors open and Emily was back to work. Obviously she was escorting a prisoner who was previously in court, one that did not go well from the look of the man-in-question's face.

Sam smiled at her daughter and watched as Emily left the court house with the man, noticing the man was pretty young. He was probably in his early-twenties, her best estimate. Still young though.

With a shake of her head, shaming today's youth, she picked up the bag and carrier and proceeded to head home. She had a lot to prove to the officials in the adoption department and she was going to start doing so now. First she would start with learning more on how to be a good parent and then she would start looking for a full-time long term clerical position that paid well. That was tomorrow though and what a beautiful day it was too, knowing she would be greeted with Eleanor's face in the morning. Probably the very early hours of the morning but Sam would just have to learn to accept that.

Author's note: I am so glad that so many people like this story! That's so nice to know. Good news is that I'm done with summer school! No more English classes for me ever again! Guaranteed, I am heading back to college again in two weeks but still! Vacation time! I'm hoping I can post one or two more chapters before that, we'll see though. Thanks so much for your patience and reviews.


	5. Chapter 4

Without a price?

Chapter 4

Emily quickly scanned the area, looking for the people she was trying to avoid. It was a dangerous situation but one that she could not have avoided or put off when _they _weren't around. That was all the shame too. She had an excuse to get out of here in fast pace though. She was busy, too busy for the likes of them.

Finishing scanning the hospital floor, she looked back and frowned at the hall and the door she had had to visit. It was a shame that Sydney had to leave her squad; she had great potential. She understood though, the baby Sydney now carried was more important and she could not risk losing it. Still, she needed a new second in command but whom? She had a squad of complete idiots and spoiled brats who don't have one sense of reality in them.

That was a problem for later though as she studied at her options. She could just rush through but doing so would collect attention. So that was a bad one. She could ask if her parents were here and not busy but Bobbie was on the desk. She would tell Monica and Alan that she asked, which would mean that she wanted to see them and she certainly did not! That only left one option, hope those two would stay busy while she walked through as a normal person. She'd stand out like a thumb because of her hair.

She had placed blonde highlights in it earlier in the week and that was one of the things her parents did know. No one had such ideas on this floor currently. Still, she needed to go and get things done so she quickly looked again and calmly walked into the main hall and towards the elevators. She pushed the button for down and waited for one to come.

As it rang, one arrived and she stepped into it and took a deep breath as the doors closed. She had thought she had made it until the elevator reached the next floor down when she found her mother was heading out too. Yeah, this would be one hellish ride. Running into her mother was one thing, running into her in a crowded space such as the elevator shaft? That was _so_ much worse.

As Monica entered she smiled pleasantly, way too pleasantly for Emily's good. "Emily, I've been meaning to talk to you." Monica told her and Emily looked to the elevator list. Damn, her floor was not coming up soon. Emily would have to actually talk to her mother. If there was one thing to be happy about, it was the fact Alan was not here. She hated when they double teamed up on conversations. It was impossible to say anything much less skip out of the conversation all together!

Emily just nodded, following the childish rule of "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all". She was going to try anyway but her mother continued.

"It's been so hard to do so; it's almost as if you are avoiding me." Monica commented, while Emily cursed herself for not going with the second option. So her parents would know she was looking for them, at least she wouldn't be cornered like this!

"What makes you say that?" Emily implied, not denying that remark but not saying it was true either.

Monica looked at Emily with a stiff smile. "Because you are," Monica replied, stopping only for a second more before finishing her line of thinking. "I suppose it is mine and Alan's fault. It's just that we care about you and want you to be safe and your job…."

Emily looked desperately at the floor list engraved into the metal of the elevator, attempting to hurry her floor number. She had heard this reasoning before-way too many times before. She was quite sure she could say it word by word herself by now. It was annoying.

"…does not fulfill those concerns." Emily heard as she unfortunately again tuned in again to what her mother was saying. Two more floors to go, Emily told herself watching the floor numbers like a clock in English class in high school. "Which is why you should really rethink your career choice," Emily glared upwards and considered repeatedly hitting her head hard on the metal walls as Monica used an example she had used for a while now. "I mean you have a pre-med bachelor's degree. With your rank, GPA, grades and talents you could easily get into a good graduate school and earn an internship."

As Monica was going to continue, Emily's floor lit up. Wanting to run out of there as if demons were chasing her, Emily walked out and onto the floor. To her dismay, Monica came too. Emily walked faster, cursing her bad luck all the way. "General hospital is a perfect place to…" Monica was not given an opportunity to go on with her lecture when Emily's patience snapped.

As they walked outside, Emily swiftly turned around to face her mother. "Monica! Do you have any idea on how many times you have given me this lecture?" Emily asked.

"Well, I can't give an approximate estimate but I feel as if I have told you it quite a few times." Monica figured, as if it didn't matter.

"Exactly," Emily exclaimed. "And if I did not take it to heart the first or third time you told me, what are the chances of me absorbing it this time?"

"Not good," Monica realized but persisted with her usual lecture. "But it would really be good of you to be a doctor. You can help people that way too. Why else did you get a bachelor's degree?"

"I got that degree because I thought it would give me a career edge in the National Guard. It is important to keep your fellow officers and soldiers under good health or else they will not be useful. That knowledge and degree allows me to do that." Emily explained to her mother, who would still probably not get it.

"Yes, but-"Monica started but Emily interrupted her tirades again.

"No buts! This is not your life, its mine! If I want to have a risky job so be it. If you can't accept that then don't say anything at all!" Emily walked away after she said this, through with taking to her mom when she was like that. Screw the childish rule! She'll be as rude as she wants as long as her mother does not accept her career choice.

Jason stood in front of a building, wondering just what he was doing here. He should be sleeping but somehow the suspicion of Sam's way too quick adoption kept him up. Something was definitely up that lane, though he wondered why he still cared so much. He and Sam were no longer together, yet he still felt a need to protect her even though she could easily do that by herself.

He would go in there and imply about Eleanor, see that everything was just as it seemed and leave the situation be, or at least that was what he told himself. He did not necessarily think that anything was wrong with Eleanor herself. She was only a helpless infant, but the adoption timing just did not fit. Then there was his gut, it just screamed that something was up. He needed to settle that feeling.

Such reasoning allowed him to open the door and enter. He approached the blonde receptionist and asked if he could see someone who could help him with his investigation. The lady said that they could and directed him toward a social worker named Gail Emery-Andersen.

She was on the phone so he had to wait until she was done, which was something he usually did not mind. Today was the exception it seemed. It was probably because Sam was involved. It was also becoming a serious problem. He did not want to be responsible for Sam anymore, shouldn't have to worry. His previous relationships had not been this way, so why was this one that way?

Jason shook off the unanswerable questions as Mrs. Emery-Anderson got off the phone and called him in. The professional woman had light brown hair wrapped tight in a bun, a blue suit with a skirt that went down to her knees and had high heels on. She smiled pleasantly as she got settled into her seat again after they shook hands and provided each other's names.

"Mr. Morgan, how can I help you?" The woman asked sitting straight in her chair with her hands folded in front of her, patiently waiting for an answer.

"I was hoping you could answer some of the questions I had on a friend's recent adoption. She recently adopted an infant girl from this adoption agency and I want to see that it will go smoothly for her sake." Jason explained, feeling a bit out of place asking about it but doing so anyway.

"She has been burned many times and been disappointed many times before. As I feel a certain responsibility to her, I would not like to see it happen again." Jason had felt he needed an excuse to be here, so he offered one. The social worker just nodded in understanding and didn't publicly note the slight awkwardness of the situation (which was lucky for him).

"What kind of adoption did she have?" The woman was obviously looking for an answer of public or private.

"It was a private one." Jason answered and watched as the lady went to the file cabinet that was labeled "private" along with alphabetize listings.

"The child's name if you please?" Mrs. Emery-Andersen directed from behind her back but Jason heard the question just as well.

Jason paused, uncertain of what Eleanor's last name would be. Would it be her old one, which he did not know, or Sam's last name? Jason just decided to go with the latter. "Eleanor…McCall I believe."

The married woman stopped looking for a file and paused. "McCall, yes I'm familiar with the case. It is quite a recent adoption so it is fresh in my mind." She murmured and turned toward her desk, to the right corner of it and pulled out a thin file out of an organized pile.

She sat back down and opened the file, flipping it open. "Your friend's name is Samantha McCall?" Asking for verification, she must have guessed just what kind of friend he was: an ex-boyfriend. Still, Jason nodded letting her know that her assumption was correct.

"What kind of information are you looking for?" Gail waited patiently for an answer to her question.

"Well, I am specifically looking for who requested the adoption. The adoption just seems a little rushed, that's all." Jason told her.

Gail looked through the file and frowned. "You're right. It usually takes a couple months for an adoption to be complete. Let me see who contacted the agency." The woman looked further into the file and pulled out a sheet of paper. "Hmm…it seems they did not want to be named."

Suspicion immediately flashed in his mind. It was too good to be true if there was no name recorded. He couldn't say why Eleanor was put up for adoption but it was obviously the person wanted no tracing back to them. Which meant something was wrong and unnatural with this adoption. The question was what though and what did it have to do with Eleanor?


	6. Chapter 5

Without a price

Chapter 5

When Jason came into his penthouse he saw Sonny was leisurely waiting for him on his sofa, slowly drinking a glass of brandy. It had been unusually quiet in the mob business lately, having no recent threats or enemies that had dared make a move on Sonny's territory. That was one of the reasons why Jason had the time to go help his sister last weekend, other than she sincerely needed somebody's help; not that she would admit that.

Ignoring how tired he actually was, he greeted his boss and best friend. Sonny did the same and invited Jason to sit. "You have been hard to find as of lately," Sonny commented.

"Yeah, I know. I think I have everything together now though." Jason told him, feeling kind of guilty for not being around but he knew Sonny did not care as long as he did not do it too often.

"That's good," Sonny answered, "I know you were worried about Emily. I assume that all is well on that account?" Sonny was one of the only people who Jason could reveal any worries or foreseen problems he had.

"As well as can be expected," Jason replied. "Is everything okay on the home front?" Jason assumed that was Sonny was here on business.

"Yes, though I do not trust this activity silence. I asked Stan to look into it," Sonny explained to Jason, who needed a small update from his two days off.

"Do you think your enemies are planning something big in secret and are just waiting to strike when your guard is down?" Jason asked, also feeling amiss about his lack of duties.

Sonny nodded and stood up, placing his brandy glass back on the table. "Carly says I am overreacting and that I should just take this opportunity to relax and spend time with the kids. It is entirely possible she is right and that this is just a slow time, but I do not want to take that chance, at least without credible evidence."

Jason nodded too, understanding that reasoning. Sonny would never want to look vulnerable, for his sake and his family's. "Should I be on guard then?" Sonny slowly considered Jason's question.

"It would not hurt," Sonny agreed. "Until I hear something back from Stan though, it seems you will have some time off. Will you be able to handle that?"

"I have a personal lead I need to follow anyway," Jason responded, that being the explanation that he is okay with some time off.

Sonny looked his way curiously. "Does this 'personal lead' have to do with Sam's recent adoption?" Jason could not deny that assumption, so he said nothing but Sonny quickly continued anyway. "I do not see how that is of any relevance to you Jason. Sam will be upset if she finds out you are getting into her business like that."

"I know," Jason replied, "and I am sincerely hoping I am overreacting but the normal adoption takes at least a month. Sam's was only short of two weeks, whoever wanted this private adoption wanted Eleanor adopted quick. This person did not even want their name to be on the forms, deciding on going anonymous."

The last sentence caught Sonny's attention, canceling any thoughts of talking Jason out of this investigation out quickly. "No name?" He asked, hoping he was just hearing things. He too felt some responsibility for Sam though he rarely involved himself as much as Jason.

"Yeah, but apparently had no trouble allowing it to be known they are female and had black hair and brown eyes." Jason said, again surprising Sonny.

"That is strange, "Sonny decided. "Even that description may be useless. If this individual is indeed mysterious, they may have even gone as far to get colored contacts or dye their hair afterwards so they could not be tracked back to the adoption." Jason also considered that factor in the adoption but did not see how it would help at the moment.

"I considered that too," Jason verified and continued "and I am completely aware that this is none of my business anymore but somehow I feel tied to the situation. I don't know how or why, but there is just an unshakable feeling that I know the anonymous adoption requester." It did not make any sense to him so he had not told anyone of his instinct until today.

"Instinct is not something to take lightly Jason. It has saved my life on many occasions" Sonny warned him. "What else does your instinct say?"

"Just that Eleanor unknowingly brings danger to Sam and the person who put Eleanor up for adoption in the first place." He did not mean, did not want to feel this way but he did. It was truly something he wanted to let go but couldn't.

"It would not hurt to further check out the adoption then, just in case you are right. It will need to be kept silent though, between me, you, and Stan who can probably help with tracking the original guardian of Eleanor." Sonny concurred, now wanting in the investigation, which was probably not in his best interest but he needed something to do.

"Stan would be of help." Jason approved, the investigation would go smoother with others helping.

"I will get him on the job after he checks out the silence, until then you are on your own," Sonny replied and Jason nodded. "Getting some sleep would not hurt though." Sonny recommended, opening the penthouse front door and leaving on his own accord.

Taking that comment to mind, Jason walked to the stairs and climbed them. Sleep was badly needed so he steered toward his bedroom and closed the door behind him.

Meanwhile, Kelly's was facing its busy hours. It was lunch time and many people came in to grab a quick lunch before heading back to the office. Lucky and Emily, between the long lines of people, was seated trying to listen to the news that was currently playing on the counter television.

Neither of them could collect much so they turned back to their meal. "I can't believe officer Murphy is dead. He was going to retire in a month for goodness sake!" Lucky shook his head, not understanding the death.

"Luck has a poor way of showing it," Emily commented with a small shrug, putting some fries in her mouth. Deaths of co-workers were normal for Emily who dealt with some dangerous stuff. A cop dying in the line of duty, however, had become less than normal so every police officer took offense much more than any soldier would.

"That is an understatement," Lucky murmured, "meanwhile his killer is walking the streets! No one will be able to stand for that for long." While he was never close to Officer Murphy, actually only knew him by name and popularity it was hard to accept a fellow cop's murder.

"Which is why there is an intense murder investigation taking place," Emily reminded him.

"I know, but we haven't got anywhere and it has been a week already." Lucky complained, blaming the world for his failure to help really.

"You can't rush these kinds of things Lucky, no matter how strongly you feel. The National Guard is the same way. When we have to deal with natural disasters it's not like we can work too late at night when there is no sunlight. Thus, some patience is needed," Emily pointed out to Lucky, using an exclusive example.

"I know, it's just so hard though. We are looking through our files for a description of a male above 6'2 with short black hair but that is like looking for a needle in a haystack." Lucky clarified, frustration eating him up.

"Well, when you are looking for every known criminal it will take forever. Someone needs to tighten the criteria they are looking for." Emily suggested, finishing her hamburger and pushing away her plate.

Lucky looked to Emily, asking "How do you suggest we tighten the search criteria?" Lucky learned to value Emily's opinion early in their friendship, which is why he made lunch plans with her. She might just bring fresh ideas to the investigation.

"Well, it is well known that people who do the crime once usually end up doing it again in most cases." Lucky nodded, catching her line of thinking.

"So add cop killer to the search criteria?" Lucky questioned her, wanting to verify her recommendation.

"Yes," Emily said, continuing with some caution to her idea "of course that could lead the police department completely off course."

"I'll take the chance," Lucky stated, opening his wallet to place a twenty dollar bill on the table to pay for the meal. "Do you think your commander would allow you to help with the search instead of the paperwork you need to do?"

"Actually, he suggested I just do that before lunch. He wants me to verify that there is no need for the National Guard to step in the investigation unnecessarily." Emily informed him.

Lucky was not happy about that as someone had personal interest, probably too much but he would take what extra help he could get while he could get it so he did not disagree with Emily's Commander's call.

Throughout that day and late into the night they worked hard but Emily could not come up with a reason not to help yet. She would have to do more research tomorrow but she needed sleep like the rest of them so she headed toward her car, prepared to drive home. She could have taken Lucky's offer to sleep at his apartment but she declined because it would have involved with sleeping near a screaming infant (Cameron).

Besides, Elizabeth was almost impossible to deal with recently. She was probably having another affair and was trying to hide it, which she was doing quite poorly. Lucky knew of course, but was letting Elizabeth think he didn't for a while, hoping to see her conscience show she was guilty. Emily doubted that though, Elizabeth didn't feel guilt, she plain did not care that she was destroying Cameron's chance at a family and a father and continually ruining her and her son's lives in the process. Then again, she had been doing that for years so it was not new. (A/N: When I said I tend to bash Elizabeth when she shows up I meant it).

Opening her car, she climbed in her SUV and started it. She drove the hour's drive home and parked the car. Walking warily up the stairs to her apartment, she opened the door and entered, hearing the echo of her phone ringing. Wondering who in the world could be calling her at this late hour, she went to her kitchen and answered it-and regretted it immediately.

Author's note: Okay, so the chapter is a bit short but I really wanted to end it with a cliffhanger. School starts Monday so I can't be sure when I will update next but I wanted to do two more updates before school started and I did that. That will just have to do for now. I love all the reviews, so thank you for all your positive feedback on the story. I really do appreciate them; they make me feel motivated enough to write other chapters (or attempt to when I have Writer's block).


	7. Chapter 6

Without a price?

Chapter 6

As the clock rang to announce that it was two am in the morning, Sam was placing the now fed Eleanor back in her crib. Eleanor scrunched her face up in her attempt to get comfortable as Sam placed the pink blanket around her so that she was warm. Sam watched her do so until Eleanor was out like a log and sleeping peacefully.

Then she headed to her bedroom, thinking she was going to be fast asleep as well. She was not though, despite the fact that she was quite sleepy. She caught herself thinking back to Eleanor's birth mother. From what she heard, which was actually very little, she was a good woman who wanted the best for her child. One of her regrets must have been the fact that she could not give Eleanor a father or at least one that was reliable.

Sam couldn't either but was still confident she could be both but knew there was going to be one day a man's touch was needed. It was said that a father and daughter had a unique bond, one that couldn't be replaced easily. She could not actually vouch for that but did not doubt that. Why else would adoption agencies like couples more than single women and men?

Curiosity was said to kill the cat but Sam took the chance by bringing out Eleanor's paperwork. Finding Eleanor's birth certificate she found that there was only the mother's signature. There was no father at that point, at least. She went to the health records and found the father's incomplete information. It was apparent though that he was one tall guy who was partially color blind.

In his late 40's, Eleanor was his only child, at least on record. The list of health problems was limited to two things. One was his eye condition and the other was messily scribbled so Sam had to strain to see what it said. It seemed he was not exactly mentally stable as a result of his abusive childhood. It was just as well that Eleanor was with her then though she couldn't help but pity him for a second.

Shaking her head and letting it go, Sam climbed into bed, determined to get some rest before Eleanor decided she wanted to be the center of attention again. Taking care of an infant was exhausting but Sam loved every part of it nonetheless. She had said that she would take care of and protect her daughter and she would, even if her life was on the line.

Early at in the morning, Lucky stared for a couple seconds at his watch, watching as the minute and hour hand struck 8:05. Emily was five minutes late, which was quite unlike her. It was entirely possible that she slept longer than intended but he had seen her go on three hours of sleep easily. Of course, there was always the concern of traffic. The truth was though that something had not been right with Emily for a while now.

He had previously been too tied in his own problems to notice at first. Emily's opinion did help though as they had made serious leeway in the investigation. The number of files had decline considerably. As a result, he now noticed that something was off with Emily, had been since she got back from her vacation. It was as if somehow her life had turned for the worse again. She wouldn't talk about it, which meant that whatever it was Lucky did not know what it was either. Not even a clue, though Lucky did not have too much trouble accepting that. Even best friends had secrets; it was just that some were bigger than other's.

Deep in his thoughts, he did not see Emily arrive before she sat across from him. Lucky looked at her and opened his mouth to mention her tardiness when she did that herself. "I know, I'm late and no excuse will do to explain that fact."

"None that I would buy anyway," Lucky replied as he saw the beginnings of more shadows under her eyes. They said not to mix pleasure with business but- "I take it you did not get much sleep last night".

"No, I did not. Something came up, literally out of nowhere," Emily muttered the last part, which meant the lack of sleep was really getting to her. That fact was astounding actually; Emily always had things in control or was in the process of doing so at least.

"Yeah, you have had that happening a lot lately," Lucky observed dryly, which Emily took offense to but agreed anyway.

"Tell me about it," Emily said and reached for the first file that was on the stack of files she needed to look through. Lucky still watched her though, so annoyance filled her and she blurted out "What?"

"Nothing, you just seem…" Lucky paused, looking for a good word to describe the present Emily but ended up with "unordinary stressed out. I think that vacation did more harm than good."

"You know very well that so-called vacation was not much of a vacation," Emily reminded him. Lucky did know that, or rather sensed it, but still did not know the details which did not bother him previously. Now it did though, but there was no way Emily would tell him.

"I do know that and now I am asking for the details," Lucky pushed, trying not to do so too hard though.

Emily rubbed her eyes and considered how to deal with the situation. Sure she knew, somehow, that was a realistic possibility she had hoped it would not come down to this. "Lucky, this is not a good time to talk about this. I am only here for a limited amount of time to help you with this investigation and you want to get personal? Here and now?" Emily argued, not really believing Lucky was actually doing such a thing. Of all the people to pull something like this, she did not think it would be her childhood friend.

Seeing the situation simple he answered with an equally uncomplicated reply "Yeah".

When Emily heard that the only thing she wanted to do was lay her head on the table, fully knowing that would not be good for her career. "Yeah, well, I don't want to talk about it then," if Lucky could be stubborn she could be equally as stubborn.

As Emily opened the file she previously took from the pile, Lucky objected, or started to. "That usually means that something needs to be said-Emily are you hearing a word I'm saying?" Emily was unusually absorbed in a particular file.

Bluntly, Emily agreed with his assessment "No, look at this", finishing with a demand.

Slightly annoyed, Lucky took the rather thick file and skimmed it through. "It certainly seems he fits the description." Lucky noted, and glanced at the prison record. "They have also recently got out of jail for…" Lucky paused in the middle of the sentence, looking for the legal offense.

"Murdering a cop," Lucky finished, amazed at Emily's ability and forgetting about the previous subject of conversation; which was exactly what Emily wanted to happen. Lucky got easily distracted, and started searching through the file, wanting to get everything in mind before he showed the file to his boss. He did not want to be missing anything and give false hope.

While that seemed to be a good lead, they needed to go through the other files anyway, just in case the prime subject was innocent. It was another late night for both of them, but the job was finished and the number of suspects was limited. Emily was also done for her duty there, and would not be reporting there tomorrow.

When they parted, Lucky completely forgotten about their argument, caught up in the accomplishment of finishing his task for the last week. Despite how tired Emily was though, she had one more thing to do. She took a U-turn and headed to the nearest motel, where someone she knew was staying-temporarily she hoped.

Knocking firmly on the door, she waited for an answer, which she got as they slowly opened the door. Emily rolled her eyes, at the suspicious nature and assumption and waited patiently. Eventually though they did open the door and let her in, closing the door behind her quickly.

"You know I'm beginning to think you don't trust me," Emily commented, as she took in the motel room. All considering, the room was decent enough but definitely not even close to a good one. It was cramped and too small, making the person feel as if the walls were trying to corner the occupant. Which was the exact opposite of the purpose, but then again business was business.

"I feared that you changed and started following the law," the person who Emily had come to visit replied.

"You never did know me that well," Emily did not mean the response to sting or hurt her companion; it was just a matter of fact. They came out of nowhere, asked for help, and left just out of the blue as they had entered. The arrangement has been going along for a long time and yet she always took steps to help out. Neither could she explain why she stood for such behavior. It was not very appealing.

"No," the room's official occupant agreed but did not seem to feel any signs of guilt over that statement. She did not know why she expected them to.

"Anyway, I'm just here to see if you need anything from the store. I figure having some food will help you when you leave. Less stops to make," Emily reckoned, going straight to business because she really did not want to get personal anymore. Getting some sleep sounded nice too.

"Actually, I have some business to take care of here. I am not going to be leaving immediately." This surprised Emily, feeling something up was there. It was completely out of her family friend's personality to do something like that.

"Oh, really? What is this 'business' you have?" Emily hoped it was not illegal, at least too far illegally for her. She did not have many qualms about breaking the law, as many know, and may not have a strong sense of right and wrong like others but even she had her limits.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," the person dismissed the situation and Emily wanted to leave it at that but was curious enough to want the answer anyway. She only hoped the curiosity did not kill the cat, as it was said.

"Try me," Emily dared him, knowing right after she said it, in the deep of her stomach that she was probably going to regret it and couldn't really seem to care about that at the moment.

"I…well…." They stammered trying to find the words to describe what seemed to be the impossible.

"Well? I don't have all day," Emily complained her patience unusually thin.

"I have a daughter."

Author's note: I realize that the National Guard helping with a police murder investigation is unlikely; it was just that I needed to have Lucky and Emily spend some time together and talk. This was just the situation I created, though that death of Officer Murphy will mean something later in the story. For now though, I really need to get back to my homework, my concentration span is limited as it is.


	8. Chapter 7

Without a price?

Chapter 7

When Lucky came back to the apartment he found a note from Elizabeth, which said that she was leaving him. Lucky really should care that Elizabeth was gone, but it did not bother him. Actually, he saw it coming for a while. That was just what Elizabeth did. She met the guy, "fell in love" with him, married him, had an affair or two, and left them. At least this has been her routine in the last five years or so.

She just couldn't trust men after her rape, which was understandable at first but when Elizabeth had done this to three men or more in the last five years, it was well apparent that she was just a coward who wouldn't face her present issues. Mostly marriage issues that she did not want to work at- she really was not much for hard work. Never had been, had a fear of it he believed.

Not only that, she was damaging her son as a result who would never have a father or a stable life all due to that. There are studies that strongly suggest that Cameron would eventually get sick of it and start being hostile and mean to his mother as a result. That was not his issue though and Elizabeth's problem to bear. She would probably ignore it until Cameron was a teenager though, which would probably be too late to solve the problem.

But again, that was not his issue. He looked around the apartment and put the few things Elizabeth left behind in a box, mentally noting to bring it by Audrey's house. He'd get the legalities taken care of and just move on. It would be as if Elizabeth was never there, when she never fully was. Not in body or mind, otherwise she would actually use her brain and not her feminine anatomy to get what she wanted.

Glancing long at the phone Lucky considered calling Emily and telling her about Elizabeth's leaving. Emily would not be anymore surprised by it than him, and it was late but he did need to broach that issue Emily thought he forgotten about. As he yawned though, he realized that could wait for now. His bed and the fluffy pillows that lay on it called. He would talk to Emily tomorrow.

Jason was looking over a file that Stan had found about Eleanor's mother, in command of Sonny's business for now. Stan had found a lack of enemies out of Sonny so he, Carly and the kids took the time to go on a little vacation. Stan was therefore left to Jason's command, and did his job giving him all the information he could find. It was everything he needed and more but he couldn't do anything with it at the given moment.

Jason rubbed his temples, feeling the upcoming headache forming quickly in his attempt to put everything he had learned together. He was still missing some pieces though, some real big pieces that were necessary for the puzzle he started trying to solve. Not only that, in the back of his mind, he finally realized why Emily had been so fickle and distrusting the last time he had seen her.

She was in another of her "I hate men" moods. She had them rarely but when she was overwhelmed it became well and apparent, which explained a lot of things actually. Why she was so cynical of his help a couple weeks ago, why she was not open to talking to him at the moment, avoiding everyone in pursuit of some isolation.

Emily knew what she was like when she got in one of those moods and therefore knew how unfair it was to Jason and every man out there. She felt so guilty for being that way which drove her to a period of being a hermit. Somewhere, somehow she knew she was overreacting so in order to not hurt anyone she wanted to be by herself until it passed, which was hard to say at this point. Emily's life had seen so bad for a while, first he thought it was just a bad day, then it extended into a bad week, and then a month.

Normally he just let her be alone and work it out for herself, and he respected that she did this in concern of her action's consequences, but this time he did not how he could do that when everything seemed to be falling apart for her.

His thoughts broke as a knock sounded on the door. He rose and opened, half expecting to see some police officer trying to breathe down his neck because he and his boss had been quiet recently. It wasn't though. It was Sam, holding the puzzle he aimed to solve secretly.

"Sam," He noted neutrally, surprise disappearing within seconds. Sam smiled shyly and seemed a bit unsure of her. He waited for her to speak, sensing she was apprehensive.

"Jason, hey. Can I come in?" Sam requested, playing with her hair, something she always did when she was overwhelmed or nervous.

"Uh, yeah, sure." Jason mumbled, stepping aside the door for her to enter, closing the door afterwards. He looked at her, wondering what she wanted and if he wanted to know.

"Can I ask a favor of you?" Sam asked, looking around his penthouse. Why did she expect it to change when her daughter died and she left, left in a bout of madness and depression? It was, of course, some stupid hope she wanted to leave buried and out of mind, much less the general public.

Sam was unsure of asking him this kind of favor but Jason did say if she needed anything, just tell him. "What is it?" He asked before he agreed to anything. Information was important in these kinds of "favors".

"I need a babysitter," Sam said directly and Jason glanced at the sleeping baby. "You were the only one I knew who could take care of a baby and was not busy during the day." She hurried on with her persuasion, seeing him kind of wary of the favor she was asking. "She won't be much trouble, I promise. She sleeps most of the time, all you need to do is feed her, burp her, and maybe change a diaper. You shouldn't need to do the last thing….I'll probably be back before that but I brought some clean ones if necessary."

"How long?" Jason questioned her uneasily, for once not feeling like doing a favor for her but perhaps if it was just for an hour or two he could do it. He could afford that much.

"Two and a half hours at the most," She answered. "I have a dentist appointment that completely slipped my mind…The new baby and all." She smiled nervously, wringing her hands, and looked completely uncomfortable for asking this.

Jason nodded, "I think that is possible." Sam looked relieved but a little embarrassed, probably feeling like a failure of a parent, not remembering to find someone to take care of Eleanor when she had an important appointment. "Everyone forgets things like that."

"Thanks," Sam told him and put the bag down, putting the carrier gently on the couch. The baby did not even notice the slight movement. With quick thanks, Sam left, leaving the two of them alone.

Author's note: Yes, it is a real update, you are not seeing things. It's been so long I know but school has been absolutely nuts! I swear my mineralogy teacher is a Nazi! He expects us to go on a million field trips, gives out homework almost everyday in class, and then also has tests and a term paper on top of that! He is really testing my patience especially when I have 4 other classes.

My computer is all fixed though and I am sorry that this is not a quality or long chapter. I also can't say I know exactly where I am going with this story, but I hope you like the update in any case. Hopefully I can update again sometime in November, that is seeming to be a somewhat easier month, at least if my Nazi teacher learns to stop putting so much work on us (which I am not counting on).


	9. Chapter 8

Without a price

Chapter 8

When Emily got back it was late, late enough to know some of her neighbors would complain the morning. They probably all thought she went out and partied all the time and came home late. That was not the case though, not at all. It was just that her life was just that busy and complicated, so much so she did not even know if she could put it in words.

Normally she liked being this busy, but recently she has just saw all the life she once had slip away, piece by piece so that she was only an empty shell of herself, not really feeling alive. Not that that was new, she never has felt truly alive, it just never got this bad before. Her entire life was falling apart and she could do nothing about it. Tonight was just the breaking point.

Why did she always have to be the adult? For once couldn't she have been the ignorant one, the one who was weak? She was so sick of being the strong and responsible adult in these types of situations. She tried so hard but it was never enough, there was just one more thing to come and ruin her life. It was no secret that she had to grow up fast but if only she was not the person people came to for everything.

She knows that she could make a stand and say no, but somehow she feels like she owes it to them to say yes but she has by far made up for her debts by now. What did it matter now? Still, she knew what she had to do. She had to quit her job. She didn't want to, she really liked it and the leaders treated her so well but if she took anymore time off it would seem she would be taking advantage of them. That was the last thing she wanted to do, but when it came down to it if she was to ever get her life back on track she needed time.

Time to figure out her problems, do what needed to be done, get her life on track again. She only hoped that when that was done they would take her back but right now it was so hard to handle it on top of everything else. No one said being noble and right was easy and lacked consequences.

When Sam came back from her dentist appointment, she found out that she was right when she said that all Eleanor would do is sleep. The child liked sleeping so much it almost frightened Sam, but upon closer look, found it was common for babies less than three months to sleep most of the time. Nonetheless, she was so happy to see her child again, finding the parting harder than she thought.

Jason had to leave right after to fix a small shipment problem after Sam picked up Eleanor. With Sonny on vacation, Jason was the lead guy at the moment, making Sam wonder why Jason just did not quit being the hit man and become the partner only. It really was not any of her business though, so she just shook off the question and went on home.

When she got home she was excited to see that she had two messages waiting for her. The first was saying when the social worker would come and the second was a receptionist asking Sam to call to schedule an interview for a position she applied for. It did not pay much and was a temporary job, only lasting for three months while the pregnant woman was on maternity leave, but it was a job and certainly a start in making she look like a respectable parent. That was what was important and she could always look for other positions, more permanent during that duration. It would just have to hold her over for now, her and Eleanor that is.

In the future it would be different; she was sure of that when she looked down at her daughter fast asleep in her crib, always wiggling and waving her feet and hands as she slept. She knew that Eleanor deserved a father which she could wrap around her finger, and maybe she would get that someday, it was just right now she needed to be able to count on herself. It was said not to worry about tomorrow, to concentrate on the today and that was what she had been doing, but there had to be some changes if Eleanor was to stay.

That hope that she been missing before restored, Sam left her daughter to her privacy and made that appointment for the interview.

Jason got home late but for some reason found it unable to sleep so he flipped open the file he had been studying for a while now. He held hope that he was just overlooking something, that piece he so very much needed to make that connection his gut sensed before he knew it was there. Frustrated, he rubbed his eyes, and then glanced down to see a yellow piece of paper from the side of his vision. Curious, he grabbed it, not caring that he was messing up the sequence.

He looked at it, shocked that he could have missed it; for goodness sake it was yellow! That kind of made it stand out, or it should have at least. Shaking his head, he read it through, and satisfaction filled him as he found exactly what he was looking for and that was when it hit him. The last name, it seemed familiar to him but he couldn't place the name. It was at the tip of his tongue but didn't quite reach speaking level. Adelaide, the father's last name was Adelaide.

Even though he could not remember why the last name should mean anything to him, he knew it was the connection that he had been looking for, the clue to the solution of the puzzle he started. He would have to do further research on the family, maybe that will loosen his tongue and lead him to the name's significance. He only hoped he wouldn't uncover too much, because as far as this record knew, Eleanor's father was still alive and as such, had a credible guardian argument.

The next day, Lucky ran into Emily at the docks, quite literally. Emily was looking for something and took one step forward too much and collided with Lucky unknowingly, who had also been not looking where he walked, watching the dock water move in its serene way. They both ended falling on the dock's wood floor, with only their pride hurt. Lucky had wanted to see Emily that day to tell her about Elizabeth but that was not the way he exactly saw it happening.

Helping each other up, they cleaned off their pants, trying to get the dust and dirt off that they received from the ground. "You should really watch where you going Em, even if you are looking for something" Lucky commented, teasing her.

"I can say the same thing for you Spencer," Emily returned the comment, the tone just as teasing as Lucky's comment.

"True," Lucky agreed. "So what are you doing in Port Charles?" Emily did not usually come here, and if she did it was usually at night after she got off work.

"I'm doing a private assignment," Emily said vaguely, knowing Lucky would understand the need for silence and not ask any questions.

"And is searching for something on the ground part of that assignment?" Lucky asked curiously, not expecting any deep answer if it was, but he doubted it had something to do with it. He could not see an assignment that would designate such attempted discoveries.

"No, but I could have swore I saw something reflect the sunlight. Some type of jewelry or other metal object." Emily said, shrugging, figuring "I guess I was just seeing things".

"Apparently so," Lucky responded, then launched into the news he felt he needed to share, quite bluntly too. "Elizabeth is gone."

"Stayed longer than I thought she would have," Emily supposed, not really showing surprise, but then again that would surprise very few people in Port Charles. Most people would be like, "…again?"

"Yeah, I was surprised she was around as long as she was. For a second I actually thought she meant to fight for something and face her problems rather than from running from them. I guess I was wrong." Lucky admitted, too shrugging when he found he was incorrect.

"Yeah, well, Nikolas isn't any better." Emily mentioned by passing. Nikolas had gone back to Greece for "business" and had not come back, saying in the end that he missed the island. Both Emily and Lucky knew better than that though, knew he was just running from the fact he had lost his mother again, not really wanting to face that reality. This did not surprise them either.

"No, I guess not." Lucky nodded at her explanation for his brother's disappearance. "We don't seem to have much luck with families." He noted this observation based on his lack of family and Emily's apparent disinterest in it.

"A family is only a temporary solution to loneliness that falls apart when one person cannot handle what life has given them and brings down everybody else with them, alienating the ones who stay to fight." That had been Emily's opinion on the concept of family since even before Lucky knew her. He had thought she was always wrong and was being too cynical but now he actually had proof to admit that may just be true.

"Yeah, I know," Lucky just said, not wanting to agree or disagree with that statement just yet. "Then what is the use of families if they don't stick together?"

"As far as I can see, they don't have any. I thought they did at one point, but as usual I expect that people will actually face their problems without setting off a domino path that leads to destruction and I'm wrong every single time." Lucky acknowledged that was one good analogue to his present family situation but had to note the strong cynical attitude Emily had. He wondered what happened to make her more cynical than usual. Of course, Emily's cynical side has only appeared recently, the result of too much disappointment he always figured.

He opened his mouth to ask as her cell phone went off. Emily took it out of her pocket and glanced at the number and person calling, opened it and closed it, literally hanging up on the person. Shaking her head, she put it in her pocket, "it's not anyone who I want to talk to at the moment". Emily excused it on, but Lucky was not so sure about that, seeing it as one of her extra stubborn moments where she could keep grudges for weeks.

"You cannot keep a grudge against Monica and Alan that long Em" Lucky told her, believing that was the subject of her anger and impatience but would not be surprised if it turned out to be someone else. Not at this point.

"You have no idea how long of grudges I can hold if I want to," Emily replied, giving a bit of mystery in the air as her cell phone went off again. Emily gave in and answered it this time. Like he guessed, it was one of her parents, to whom she firmly addressed as "Dr. Quartermaine". Yeah, her anger was only growing if she went that far. He decided to stay out of it though and waited while she finished the conversation, which was pretty short.

Lucky decided not to broach the issue at this given moment, leaving that for another time. Besides, he had to head to work and Emily needed to get back to her assignment, whatever it was. They parted and they both went their separate ways, where Emily's phone went off again. Cursing the person, she answered it. Couldn't they get the message that she did not want to talk to them?

"Don't hang up," the other person on the line begged as soon as they were sure she was listening. She did it before.

"Give me one reason why I should give you the time of day" Emily demanded, angrily.

"I overreacted earlier, I know and I also know that I never did anything to earn your trust in the first place, it's just….I am…." The person paused in their response.

"You are what?" Emily asked, not in the mood for games.

"In big trouble."

Author's note: Long time no see huh? Sorry, I know I'm horrible on updating but I am down to 3 weeks including finals and then I'll be able to update again, probably sometime before Christmas. Now if only I can find some motivation to actually finish off this semester strong…


	10. Chapter 9

Without a price

Chapter 9

Emily wasn't sure if she really wanted to know, but she asked anyway, "what kind of trouble?"

"The kind that is better told face to face." The voice on the other side of the phone said stubbornly, with little detail. They shouldn't be though; it was not exactly a good time to be doing so.

"You know acting all suspicious and vague here is not exactly a good way for you to convince me to come to you, much less help, especially after that little blow up we had. You are even lucky I'm talking to you as we speak" Anger was quickly overcoming Emily, who had no patience for their antics. They were becoming tiresome after all these years.

"That was….I'm sorry okay? I overreacted, did not consider just what is happening in your life, I mean with your-" Emily quickly interrupted his sentence.

"I wouldn't bring up that name if I were you. You are stepping on dangerous ground as it is" Emily really shouldn't have had to warn them though, then again they were never the smartest crayon in the box.

"Okay, okay I get the hint. Just meet me please? We really need to talk."

It was against Emily's better judgment when she considered it he was right, but she did not have to be happy about it. "Fine, I'll be there this afternoon, right now I have to work and follow a certain lead." He could wait, this couldn't.

"This afternoon it is," the person agreed, though through the signing she heard afterwards said they would prefer sooner than later. Well, too bad.

When Lucky walked into work, he got assigned with finding where to find the suspects. If they could question them, see if they had an alibi, it would limit the load, but they certainly got farther than he imagined. By now they have cut the possibilities in half and were counting down, assuming that they were on the right lead. He certainly hoped they were or else they would be back to the beginning.

He flicked through the witness list again, which consisted of many names, pages of them. The shooting had taken place at a club on a Friday night, the times college students went to drink and dance among others. The story was the same for most of them; they were inside the club when they heard a gunshot. They raced outside, only to not see anything because the huge crowd that was already there.

From the ones on the front line, they said that the shot came from out of nowhere. No one could be sure where it was shot, but it had to be a reasonable distance because that type of gun does not work more than a couple feet. The gun was absent, but they could get the type from the bullet extracted. They had nearly no leads, especially if you add the affect alcohol can have on a person.

What made it worse was that the gun was the basic one bought in order to protect oneself and their family so basically anyone could done it. Baldwin probably had a gun with it due to all the enemies he has made throughout the years. It was too common and this whole case was one big nightmare. There was nothing that stuck out, nothing that distinguished it all. He couldn't leave it be though, felt like he needed to work on it and solve it, that he had to be one of the people on the assignment.

Well, he got his wish and it was exhausting him. He raised his head as his boss came by. "Spencer, you're good with technology, right?"

"Yeah, pretty good with it," Lucky agreed but wondered why that came up now. It did not become important for the last few months he had been working there.

"Good, then you have a new assignment." His boss bent down and placed a box of videocassettes on his desk. "These are security tapes of a certain motel. One of our main suspects stayed there for a couple days. The night before he checked out he had a guest, one that he has issues with apparently, possibly an accomplice. They argued-loudly. I need you to watch the tapes throughout the night and find who this person is. They might know where to find our suspect, possibly know anything about the shooting itself".

"Okay," Lucky agreed but was curious what he just got him into. The box held many of them, which meant that he had the entire night to watch, second by second. It was going to be a long day.

He was right and it was late afternoon before he actually saw this "mystery guest". He had been staring at the screen watching the scene before him for a good eight hours at the very least, so he was quite bored until something actually happened. He had to blink and fast forward the tape so that he was sure he was not just seeing things. He thought he had before but it was always one of the left or right rooms. It was the right room this time though.

The figure had a coat and pants on, and if the hair was not hid under the jacket, had short hair, a little below the shoulder. They knocked and the suspect opened the door and they swiftly entered, the door quickly slamming shut. Lucky paused the video and wrote down the time, in order to see how long they visited. The yelling that was heard would not show up in the black and white camera because it did not have speakers but you could note when it started, as some windows and doors opened from the other two rooms, obviously curious with the racket. He wrote this time down too, the relative time anyway.

For all he knows it could have started a minute or two before and the neighbors could have just heard it, got sick of it, or again, was just curious. It could be a bunch of things. The person stayed for 20 minutes and left in a hurry, so no good image would result. The face would probably be shaded and lead nowhere or if anywhere the wrong direction. He could see the hair sway slightly, so that just meant that they had short hair like he guessed. Plenty of evidence for a fight though, the guest left the room quite angry, practically slamming the door.

He grabbed the witness file and looked to see if they had got anything more from them. Maybe it had an estimate about height, the color of clothes or hair, or even the race and gender. Anything would be helpful really. The guest was Caucasian and given an average height to above average, with heels though so that left error. They couldn't say a gender, the coat and hair both made sure of that. The hair length worked for either and the coat made it impossible to see their form. It was dark by the time they watched them walking away so any guesses on colors would probably be wrong. This did not help anymore than all the other research they had done. How frustrating.

But frustrating or not, he had to tell his boss what he found. He had left though so Lucky left the file and his notes there, he'd tell him more details tomorrow. Swallowing a big yawn, Lucky decided to go home himself. He had seriously been skimping on sleep and it was coming to haunt him so he decided to go do that for a change, maybe ignore reality for a while. At least that was the plan before his phone rang.

Previously…

Emily got out of her SUV and glanced at the house. She still did not care for it or the person she was meeting but she would just have to suck it up. She was strong enough to do that, right?

Firmly she knocked on the door when she approached it; half hoping the guy was asleep and did not hear it. No such luck, the door opened and she carelessly looked behind him, greeting him stiffly "Vincent." He rose his brows at the formal name but let it slip, she was obviously still angry.

"You came a little earlier than I expected," he replied as she walked in as he stepped out of the doorway.

"My lead has gone astray until tomorrow", Emily responded, walking in with her head held straight up, not to show that she was better than him (even though she did think she was), but rather because she wanted to showcase the grudge she was still keeping.

"How fortunate for me," Vincent commented and ignored the obvious show of indifference.

They walked to the study to talk, looking for privacy not that anyone really was around the creepy old house Vincent was staying at. It was full of ghosts, some dangerous ones if you got the wrong one or felt they were what they most feared. It was the reason why the house would never sell. It was just too haunted for others to be liable.

Emily sat down at the chair nearest the desk, where Vincent sat. "Well?" Emily asked impatiently, going straight to the point. "What is this news that 'is better told face to face'"?

"The news is in two parts actually." He admitted, not surprised to see Emily's eyes narrow under more suspicion.

"Give me them in good news and bad news text then." Emily recommended, "I hope the good news will override the bad, at least for your sake."

"Okay, you know that night at the bar? The one you tracked me to?" Vincent asked and Emily broke the face and grimaced, shaking her head trying to put that memory away to no avail.

"Yeah, I know what you are talking about." Emily wish she didn't but she did. It was the night the officer got killed. She was there tracking Vincent who seemed, well, unusual and felt the responsibility that she could not let go of to try and step in.

They had argued-not that was unexpected, they always argued but it was interrupted by a commotion out in front. He was faster and stood in her way to see what was going on, not that she could have with the crowd in front of her. Then the gunshot went off and people went into a frenzy, scared and believing that this was going to be "the end".

"Well, the police think I might have done it." Vincent replied calmly, then all heck broke loose and he started pulling at his hair and stood around to pace, obviously disheveled with this accusation. "I didn't even have a gun-can't access one! How could I have shot that officer without one, even if I was not with you the whole time?" He asked, not really expecting her to answer.

"I still feel guilty about misreading the situation so I agreed to plead guilty and killing the policeman and by doing the jail time I thought I could at least be responsible for one thing in my life. I thought that if I stayed good with my parole that I would be fine but it's never enough is it? I apologized to his family; I did my time, stayed true to the right path since I've got out-what more could they want?"

"I have done a lot of bad I realize-I was never there for you, I took away a good father and husband, I was always too preoccupied with my own survival to help others. But I have at least changed the last two things and am working on that first one and that has made me a better person. I have changed, why can't anyone see that?"

This rant was all based on a frustration that had been building for a while, and Emily knew he really had changed. She was still angry but this was a different issue, one that needed to be dealt with.

"Don't be wrong when I say this-I'm still angry with you, but I know you have been sincere and upfront about changing your ways, working on your issues and trying to deal with your responsibilities for life. And that is the only reason I am helping clear this up. You deserve at least to be considered a changed man" Emily felt she had to make that clear. "I will talk with my police officer friend and fix this up by saying as a witness there is no possible way that you could have done it. Once I've done that you can tell me the rest."

Vincent looked relieved and agreed to her plan and saw her to the door and off.


	11. Chapter 10

Without a price

Chapter 10

A Lucky shut off the television and VCR and was preparing to leave his cell phone rang, although he did not know this until the second ring. The shuffling of things had blocked the sound until then and immediately he reached into his pocket to find it by impulse. He answered the call after quickly glancing at the caller ID, saying" What's up Em?"

Emily was not sure quite what to say, how to describe the situation she found herself in, but she managed to start out the usual way somehow. "A lot apparently," Emily said directly, adding an annoyed tone because she felt that way. "Do you have time to meet me tonight?" She requested of him, unsure of how to handle the present circumstances at this point but she figured that was a good place to start.

"Is it important?" Lucky asked, "I really do need some sleep." He was not lying about this and unmistakably heard Emily mutter something on the other end- what he believed to be some sarcastic remark like "like you are the only one".

"I suppose it can wait for the morning," Emily considered, knowing she was pushing it as it is. It was a little after the end of business hours and people were probably or had already headed home. She should be doing that too but she did not think she will be doing that tonight, whether she meets with Lucky or not. She didn't want to wait for the morning but she guessed that she had no other choice so she replied "I'll just come by the station tomorrow."

"The station," Lucky asked quickly, forgetting about his sleep plans in a flash. A deep hope was buried in his head that it had to do with the case he was and had been working on for weeks. "Is it about Murphy's murder?" Okay, so maybe he was jumping ahead and was probably wrong but he had been wrong about a lot of things, why would one more incorrect question or answer be any different? Lucky was desperate for another lead, anything! If it was a bad one so be it, but it was a lead!

Emily decided to be direct and straight to the point since Lucky's question was right on and because she told him that she was there at the scene of the crime. He would have known through the extensive name list of the people present anyway. "Yes, it's about Murphy's murder. One of the suspects you think did it to be exact."

"I thought you didn't know anymore about the shooting. You said that you did not really have anything to add. As far as I can see you have no importance to the case, not as a witness anyway." Lucky told her, very much confused, though she did help sort the files…

"I thought so too until tonight." Emily responded bitterly before sighing. "Listen, I'll have to explain it to you fully later but if you look at the suspect files you will find one under Adelaide."

Lucky surprisingly did not have to look too far, for he found that he was looking right at it. This Adelaide was the suspect he was looking at in the video tapes from the motel. "Yeah, I have it right here." He told her and grew suspicious of her behavior, and wondered why Adelaide mattered to her- until it hit him. "You mean it was you who visited him at the motel?"

Emily was confused for a brief moment. Motel, what motel? Oh, the motel Vincent had stayed in for the first two nights he was here… but how did he know that she visited his room? This took Emily a second longer to answer until she remembered the cameras that circled the parking lot, which must have been taken by the police department. They probably now thought she was some kind of accomplice. Lovely, she thought cynically.

There was no way she could deny that claim though. She'd have to deal with that portion of it when the time came. "Yes, that was me and I will get to explaining that soon enough, just right now look at the back of the file for contact information." She instructed Lucky who shifted through the file and found it.

He did not have a clue what that was supposed to mean or what he was supposed to look for but he located it and looked at it nonetheless. Emily was not one to be so serious and be joking so she probably had a very good excuse for telling him to do this so he gave her the benefit of the doubt and indeed found something.

"You have got to be kidding me," Lucky said on the phone, not really realizing that Emily was on the other line when he said it because he believed that he did not think the thought out loud. He did, however, so he continued going into the subject "You said-"

"I know what I said Lucky!" Emily exclaimed, obviously frustrated with this whole mess, doing her best to stay in control. After she took a few deep breaths, she went on to say "That was the reason why I was at the club, okay? I was meeting him there."

Lucky made the connection after Emily's reply. "He didn't shoot the police officer, did he?" Lucky asked in order to verify his gut feeling on how this conversation was going to end-he empty handed but one suspect down.

"No, I was with him when the shooting took place. Both of us ran to the place it happened at out of curiosity after the deed was done." Emily explained, adding "besides, he doesn't even own a gun."

"Then what was the argument about at the motel? You sure left in a hurry." Lucky questioned her, starting to feel the strain Emily was on even though part of it was because he felt kind of betrayed. He didn't know if he should though-even the best of friends have secrets.

He and Emily were not any different and he in turn had some secrets that he never told Emily. It wasn't that he didn't trust her; it was just not easy to talk about, much less admit. It was probably the same way with Emily. These thoughts were for another day though, so he put a clamp on them and tuned in just in time to hear her response.

"That night we were discussing a totally different topic. I didn't even know he was considered a suspect at the time." If that was true, then the issue would have to be coming up now, Lucky figured.

"You are really going to have to explain this all to me Em," Lucky stressed, trying to connect the pieces and failing miserably. He was missing too many pieces of the story so the only likely result would be a headache, a migraine at the worst.

"Thus the meeting idea Lucky," Emily commented, annoyed by his reaction that was already well pronounced by her continued emphasis on "explanations later".

"Well, now that you have got me intrigued, I do not think I am going to sleep tonight," Lucky replied, his agitation obvious then realized having two agitated, sleep deprived people would not be good so he quickly reformed the accusation. Emily obviously had more of a right to be agitated than him, besides there was time for that later. "Can you meet me at my apartment? As far as anyone is concerned it will just be two friends hanging out." The last thing he wanted are his neighbors gossiping to the police about their meeting- not that he really talked to them anyway or expected them to be guessing their discussion topic. It was just a precaution he felt he needed to take.

"Yeah, I'll be there when I can." Emily agreed as she slammed the driver seat door and started her SUV. Who knew what the traffic would be like?

"Okay," Lucky replied just before he disconnected the call, truly wanting this whole mess to be cleared up. He just hoped he could separate the information given him. Some of it was obviously only for his own ears, other stuff just for the professional cop he was eight hours or more a day.

True to her word, Emily was surprisingly prompt, just arriving at his apartment building a few minutes after he did. They skipped the usual greetings after Emily knocked on his door, both wanting to get at least a few hours of sleep tonight. Some very vital hours of sleep for Emily, he decided as she did not look well but he did not tell her this because it would have been impractical given the circumstances. She was not expected to look well at this point, being pushed well beyond her limit though she would never admit it to him or herself.

After they settled down at a table in order to give more space to place certain and important documents that would help them sort out Emily's mess, and partly his too. He and Emily both brought them, for either their usefulness as evidence or just speculation about the case itself. First of all though, they took care of Adelaide's suspected involvement in the case. It did not take long because Emily explained his innocence on the phone.

Lucky pulled out the five page list of names that were at the bar at the night of the shooting. Emily's and Vincent's were there and Lucky did believe they were there together, especially at the time of the shooting. Emily said that they fought often, just like in the motel and the bar, making them more than preoccupied at the time of the shooting. His suspect status was more based on circumstance than evidence anyway. It was the speculation where they got somewhere.

They were going over the list of evidence, or rather lack of it, when Emily made a vital point. "This whole case has a little too perfect set up if you ask me."

Lucky was deep in thought when she said it but still heard it, asking "what do you mean?" for clearance of the evidence of such a suggestion.

"I mean that everything is too circumstantial. The bar and its regulars are well known to be of ill repute so you could probably guess they were lying, drunk or taken for it at least. The type of gun and its ammo is common enough and the gun is nowhere to be found, probably taken to the killer's home and hidden. The shot came from a shadowed corner so that no one could probably see a face." Emily explained, then stating her own conclusion. "Whoever did this planned the whole thing. It wasn't just a random shooting that we are so use to hearing about."

Lucky frowned, seeing her point. "You're right. Not only was it planned but the killer knew exactly what to do to not get caught." Lucky sighed, rubbing his eyes before he looked back at Adelaide's file. "Didn't you say that Adelaide was not exactly considered smart?"

"No, he barely breezed through high school and only retains his math and history skills to this day." Emily told him. "He could have never planned something like this."

"Then neither could any of the other suspects. We are overestimating these past criminals' intelligence and ability to plan something this big." Lucky concluded. "Like you said, this is not just a random police shooting or a repeat offender. This investigation has been going in the wrong direction from the beginning. The question is why?"

"Maybe it is being sabotaged from the inside, the police and legal department that is," Emily guessed.

"An inside job," Lucky considered the possibility. "Then that means that whoever did this is a detective or police officer, or any of the higher positions in either department? The people I work with everyday?"

"Well, unless you have another idea…yes." Emily said simply, which revealed a lot, more than what either one of them was expecting.

Author's note: School starts on Monday so updates will be hard to get up but at least I got two done during this school vacation-that's some progress in the story. For some reason spring semesters seem to be better for me though so maybe you will see an update more often than last semester. Then again, I only know what two things of the semester bring-a thesis proposal I have to write and a mapping project that I have to do in lieu of a class that I normally would have to take if I was not acrophobic. I am however. In any case, just know I will try updating as much as I can. I really am forever in thanks of your patience-I know I am horrible with updates and I feel so guilty about that but the circumstances are what they are and all you can do is work them the way you think best.


	12. Chapter 11

Without a price

Chapter 11

Lucky could not, would not admit that the place he worked at, the people that were his coworkers, and possibly the leaders would do such a thing. No one was perfect but there was no reason to believe that any of them were _that_ treacherous. There was no way. Still, he didn't have a better theory, so he went with it for now until he could find one.

"Okay, if someone is indeed doing some inside work to mess up the murder investigation, why?" Lucky asked Emily, deeply hoping she won't have an idea and the whole hypothesis was wrong. Of course, he didn't have much hope in that.

"Well, I can't exactly say what the motive is but obviously it has something to do with Officer Murphy. He had to know the person who did it closely, know something they didn't want anyone else to, or something of the sort in order for someone to be so careful with the shooting." Emily replied as she saw his face fall, knowing the difficulty about admitting that the place and people you get to know are murderous.

"Lucky, I really don't want to be right about this. I want to believe that your coworkers and leaders are innocent of these charges as much as you do but all the evidence points to inside work. I can't help that and that is the facts we are looking at." Emily explained, though she probably would never like the police department or trust them. That was based on personal reasons though.

"I know," Lucky said quietly, significantly torn about the accusation. After all, that was where he spent most of his present life, a place where the people were supposed to be good doers that did not commit these deeds but rather stopped them. It wasn't the easiest lead to swallow considering all this.

Sensing that it was time to go and let Lucky come to terms with this finding, Emily started grabbing what she brought and put them in her folders somehow managing to look natural doing it. "I need to go home and get something to eat." Emily excused herself, pausing only to ask one question. "Should I help explain this to your boss tomorrow?"

Lucky was slow with his answer but replied soon enough. "I should be able to do it but keep your cell on just in case I find myself needing some assistance." Emily nodded, as she stood up from the table chair she was sitting in before recently.

Lucky watched as she grabbed the folders and her purse and slipped out of his apartment without another word. He really should stop her and say he didn't blame her and he didn't, but he didn't. He couldn't handle that right now. He will later but just not right now.

As Emily left Lucky's apartment building, her cell phone went off again. Impatiently, she took it out, hoping for Vincent's sake it wasn't him. She had told Vincent that she would come when she could! It wasn't him calling though, it was Jason. She didn't know why he would be calling though, especially this late at night. He never went to bed early but he also never stayed up this late, unless it was a special day. Then again, keeping watch over Sonny's territory and fixing any problems while Sonny was away was time consuming when you took into account the size of the operation.

"Hello," Emily said as she reached her SUV, unlocking and opening it to get in at least to escape the cold wind that blew that night.

"I have a question for you. Have you ever met Eleanor?" Jason asked on the other line, skipping all forms of greeting in order to just get to his point. Emily immediately became suspicious of this; usually Jason at least did that. She didn't think she was going to like this conversation very much, not if he was as determined as she sensed.

"Eleanor?" Emily repeated the last word, searching for a face, a family member, anything and failed. "I'm afraid you are going to spell this one out for me."

"Sam's newly adopted daughter." Jason explained simply which indeed brought the court house memory to her mind. That girl got really clingy for very little reason.

"Oh, that Eleanor. Yeah, we met at the court house about a week ago." Emily answered though not fully sure that it was a week ago. Her days seemed to be endless while others were not.

"Not before that?" He asked, making her a little suspicious of his purpose of asking. She also felt somewhat insulted by him not trusting her on this.

"No, should I have?" Emily replied, putting some rudeness in it before she could catch it from coming out. Then again, as far as she was concerned Jason deserved it but maybe not that much. It was already out though so she could do nothing about that.

"No, of course not. I just thought you would know more about her." Jason explained over the phone, and Emily ignored this accusation to get to the heart of the matter.

"Should I even ask why you think Eleanor or her adoption is your business?" Emily asked, knowing what was going on now.

"It's fishy, that's all. I mean no adoption goes that fast." Jason again was quick for an excuse but Emily saw through it easily and decided to broach this issue directly. Ducking around the bush held no attraction whatsoever.

"No adoption?" Emily replied skeptically. Jason was not that brain damaged that he couldn't remember how hers went.

"Okay, yours did but you were almost twelve and the Quartermaines' paid extra to get it done that quickly. Sam doesn't have that kind of money and Eleanor is a baby." Jason did have a point but he was still overstepping his boundaries in looking into this.

"And maybe you are overanalyzing this whole thing. I am hardly an expert on how adoption agencies work but perhaps they didn't have the space to keep another child and needed to make room so they pushed things up and paid the extra cost." Emily said, seeing the business component of that logic.

"I never considered that," Jason admitted, which was actually quite generous of him considering all of his previous excuses.

"Here's a suggestion Jason, ask the agency or even Sam why it was rushed. I mean isn't that easier than just obsessing over nothing?" Jason inwardly realized she had a point in the direct option but still…

"It's not nothing," Jason argued.

"Yes it is. Maybe you haven't realized this but you miss Sam still so you are making something small turn into a huge investigation so you can still be indirectly part of her life. You have to let her go." Jason probably knew this but wouldn't really take it to be true. He could be quite stubborn when he wanted to.

"That's not why I am doing this," Jason denied her observation but not as strongly as he could have.

"So you keep telling yourself. Whether or not you want to hear this, you have two options. Either you let both you and Sam move on or you get her back. This is not one of those things that can be placed in the gray area between black and white." Emily explained to him, trying not to be so harsh but that was the truth of the matter and she couldn't change that. Trying to force some patience, a rare event for her, she continued. "Now, if you excuse me, I have my own problems to deal with." She didn't even say goodbye, just ended the phone conversation by putting away her cell phone. If Jason could skip formal phrases, so could she.

Leaning back against the seat, Emily rubbed her temples on the onslaught of an upcoming headache but glanced sideways at her bag that she kept her cell phone in. It only brought more trouble but there was no way she could just turn it off and just relax. Not now and the way things are going, not ever. Her problems never seemed to really go away. Yeah, they took a small vacation but they always came back to haunt her- there didn't seem to be a permanent solution as much as she tried searching for it.

Quickly shaking away these depressing thoughts, Emily focused on her next priority and pulled her SUV into gear and pulled out of the parking space she held until now in the silent and deserted parking lot.

Putting his cell phone back on the desk, Jason refused to take what Emily had said to mind. He was not obsessing or crossing boundaries by investigating the adoption and if he perhaps was, it was not because he could not find it in him to let go of Sam and what they had. They both were moving on, had already done so he was just finally reaching the ability to do it with this investigation. He wanted to see her happy and Eleanor did but he didn't want to see that happiness fade again. That was why he just might be obsessing.

Once he found nothing, he'd let it all go but Emily was right about one thing. Maybe he is looking for something not there, perhaps the adoption agency really was just overcrowded and seeing a potential foster mother had jumped on it. Looking at the clock, he sighed and sat up from the chair. It was far too late. He'd make a phone call and see if that was indeed what happened during business hours. Meanwhile, some sleep wouldn't hurt.

The next day, Lucky reluctantly had to bring Emily in to help him explain the whole situation to his boss. Like him, he wasn't real open to considering there was a traitor in their midst but he accepted that it was entirely possible after they went over the evidence. Since he, with Emily's help, had figured this out it was also his job to see if the theory was right which meant starting on a whole new lead.

Walking back to his desk, they talked about what needed to be done. "I am going to need to make a record of who Murphy knew well and interview them about what they might know, what was so important that he had to be killed." Lucky complained slightly, knowing that was a big job considering Murphy was a popular guy, inside and out of his job.

"I'm sure it's not that bad," Emily reasoned as she stopped where she was at and looked around her, trying to trace the scent that reached her nose. It was so familiar, not to mention a horrible scent.

"You have no idea how big it can be. This guy literally was a friend to everyone," Lucky said, preparing to go on but saw how preoccupied Emily was. What had got her so distracted? "Em?"

Emily looked back to him quickly. "Do you smell that?" Emily asked him, Lucky giving her a confused look and set to correct her question, "the perfume I mean."

"Oh, that. Yeah, it's been following Baldwin around for a while." Lucky motioned toward the district attorney who was leaving the department, probably going to the court house to mess with some court case that was probably fine the way it was.

"So he actually has a girlfriend. Who knew he actually attracted them instead of scaring them off." Emily commented, but Lucky sensed there was more to her implication but said nothing.

"I know, surprised everyone else too. Not to mention whoever she is, she needs a new fragrance. That stuff is horrid." Lucky shook his head, knowing he would never get use to it considering it had been a while and he was still not use to it.

"No kidding," Emily murmured in agreement, still somewhat distracted as they presumed walking to his desk.

"Anyway, I need to get to making a list of all possible connections. What do you have planned today?" Lucky asked, out of curiosity more than anything. This "new assignment" intrigued him.

"I need to work tonight but I have a meeting with the governor at noon." Emily mentioned, giving him no clues as he expected. It was worth a try.

"It seems that you know some powerful people Em." Lucky glanced up at her as he made this comment.

"He implicated some changes with the New York National Guard and is interested to know how they are coming." Emily answered, and considered what do until then when she remembered something. "And he'll want to know how the investigation in Murphy's murder is going too." Emily was pondering something as Lucky looked up at this comment.

"What does the governor have to do with Murphy's murder?" Lucky asked, never hearing the relation between the two people. Emily looked at him as if he grew two heads after he asked this.

"Him and Murphy were roommates during their college days and got to be best friends. The friendship continued to the day Murphy died." Emily explained. Lucky knew his jaw dropped at hearing this news. "You didn't know?" Emily questioned him as she saw his face.

"No, another thing that has escaped notice it seems," Lucky replied with a somewhat cynical tone. He was getting really sick of these missing facts but now that he knew maybe he could follow the lead Emily introduced him to. "Do you think I can come along? He might have some good insight on who could have done it or even a motive." T

"I suppose it can't hurt," Emily agreed, "I can tell him about the changes after he is done answering your questions." This meant that there was some secret information that he was not supposed to hear and Emily was not even denying it. It as annoying but also impressive how much she could keep secrets now days.

"Let me go and tell Mac about it. I'll also ask if he knew of the association between Murphy and the governor." Lucky doubted he did; there was no way he would have kept something like that from the people working on the investigation. It would have made the investigation that much easier in the first place.

The commissioner didn't know about the relation which only pounded the idea of an inside job further in. Someone had to have deliberately kept that from the department. Luckily, Emily did or else he would really be out of leads but something that big to be kept out really meant that this killer was serious about keeping his secret. Not that resorting to murder did not help that clarity before.

When he returned, Emily was waiting to hear what his boss said but pretty much knew what his answer would be. Emily shook her head, "I'm sorry Lucky but my theory is really panning out here".

"I know," Lucky admitted out loud which was not the easiest thing for him to do but this connection was so big it put considerable doubt in an alternative hypothesis. He glanced at his watch and saw that it was nearly nine thirty. Emily said the meeting was for noon. "How long will it take to get to the city?"

"Hour and half, maybe more with the usual traffic," Emily replied, used to the city more than he was.

"If we leave now we may be too early but I also would hate to be late for this golden opportunity." Lucky remarked and Emily agreed with his judgment with a nod. "When do you need to get back to Port Charles?" When Emily said she had to work tonight, she did not say an approximate time just a vague one.

"By four or so, even though coming earlier could be in my best interest." Emily replied corrected when she thought about it again.

"Okay, do you mind if we carpool? I have no idea how to get to the Governor's office much less anywhere in New York City so you will have to drive." Lucky pointed out, but knew Emily took that into consideration much earlier.

"Works for me, my SUV is outside with a full tank of gas." Emily told him and Lucky grabbed his coat off his chair and shrugged it on as they left the building. Lucky had no idea what he would find out in this meeting, if anything, but he hoped it was good. Murphy deserved to finally be able to rest in peace.

Author's note: Still swamped with homework and life's problems but this chapter has been sitting on my computer for a while just waiting to see its final form so I decided to jump on that and give myself a small break. I hope it will hold the story readers because my five classes are giving more work than I fully realized.


	13. Chapter 12

Without a price

Chapter 12

"So how do you know the governor again? I mean through your job it is kind of necessary but there are so many people in it. Why only pick you for this private meeting?" Lucky asked Emily as he stood in front of the governor's office, which was big and luxurious. It was making him feel like he shouldn't be here, which was the truth. It wasn't his meeting after all- the governor had no idea he was coming with Emily.

"Do you remember that soldier I was romantically interested in a few months ago?" Emily in return asked, turning her head to look at him.

It took a second for him to place the conversation. "Yeah, the one that went to the Middle East and never returned." Lucky answered but failed to see the connection until he glanced back at the office building. "He was the governor's son?" Lucky was so shocked at this realization that he glanced at Emily from the corner of his eye as a sly smile slid itself onto Emily's face.

"Hey, he was attractive, was studying to be an army medic, and had an interest in all kinds of weapons." As Emily justified her interest, Lucky just shook his head and wondered about the type of guys Emily was into. She has always been into the more dangerous and aggressive types but this was a whole new level for her.

Letting this go, they walked to the door and knocked. When they reached the door they were asked if they had weapons and their reason for their presence. Emily explained the situation while Lucky gave up his gun to the security guards. Then they were showed into the hall to wait for the governor to receive them. He was currently seeing another appointment.

Checking his watch, Lucky saw that they were only ten minutes early. It was much later than Lucky expected to be though. While they waited Lucky told Emily about the letter Nikolas sent to Lulu.

"At least Nikolas cares enough to check up on his sister," Emily pointed out to him.

"Yeah, I know but it just seems kind of impersonal and so unlike Nikolas, you know?" Lucky looked back at her as he asked this.

"I agree but you can't really expect him to be like he was when we were in high school. Friendships change as the individuals themselves change and if it doesn't evolve to fit those needs it dies." Emily responded, referencing the theory of friendships.

"True, but this fast? I mean seriously, one day he was friendly and the next he was gone with barely a letter to show in the meantime." Lucky disagreed somewhat, continuing. "Something must have happened."

"Like what?" Emily replied, considering what he said. Of course, she figured out that too but she was not going to push the issue. Obviously it wasn't important enough to tell them about it. Sure she was curious but she made it a habit to let things come out in time.

"That's the problem: I don't have a clue," Lucky admitted as Governor Massey**1** came through the hall, shaking hands with the man he was previously meeting with. As the man left, the governor concentrated on the two of them. He smiled fondly at Emily and shook hands with her and then turned to Lucky.

Emily quickly intercepted the responsibility of introductions. "Governor Massey, this is my friend Lucky Spencer. He is one of the police officers that are looking into Officer Murphy's murder. He hoped you may be of some help."

Smiling broadly as he heard this, they both shook hands, the governor saying "I don't know how much I'll be able to help but I'll certainly tell you what I know if it means that David's killer will be caught."

Used to this response, Lucky reassured the Governor that anything would help as they followed him into the hall and his office. He offered them two seats at the other end of his desk and they sat.

"Tell me, how is the murder case proceeding?" Governor Massey asked vividly interested.

Lucky wished he had better news for the Governor but… "It is presently at a stand still unfortunately. Previously we were going off the assumption that our murderer was a repeat police officer killer but once the evidence was looked at in a broader view, it was found that that was the wrong approach." Lucky explained the situation, feeling regret as the Governor's hopeful face fell.

"So what is the approach now?" The governor questioned him although Lucky was going to go on and explain that as well before the governor intercepted his own question.

"Our current theory is that the previous approach was directly ordered by someone inside." Lucky answered dutifully.

"An inside job?" The governor echoed in shock, unsure it just wasn't his ears playing tricks on him.

"Yes, the whole murder was perfectly planned. Our killer knew exactly what he was doing and how to cover it up so they didn't get caught. Also, there were very specific details that were missing from the case. For example, I and the police force did not have a clue that you and David Murphy were friends until Emily mentioned it to me this morning." Lucky went on, giving plenty of evidence to back up his claim.

"I was curious as to why no one interviewed me. Now, it seems, I have the answer." The Governor must have been pondering that since the beginning of the investigation. "Any suspects yet?"

"No, this was a recent discovery. Emily thinks that Officer Murphy knew or saw something that someone wants to stay hidden. I agree with that too." Lucky explained, continuing. "But no one can say what it is yet. Which is why I need to talk to all of the people close to him and because Emily already had an appointment, you became the first of them." He did not need to say that last part but he wanted to excuse his presence nonetheless.

"Hmm…what could be bad enough that someone would kill him over?" The governor said, more to himself than Emily and Lucky. At the end, the governor shook his head. "I'm afraid I can't think of anything that would push anyone to those extremes."

"With all respect Governor, anything can potentially push someone to those limits. Is there anything happening in your life that could be the reason?" Lucky asked, pointing out his lack of reason.

"I am having some personal issues I admit but unless I have your full disclosure, I cannot tell you it. The media would gladly exploit it in order to make me look incompetent, as well as my political rivals." The Governor was not one to lie but also had his career to consider. Politics was messy, as all of them knew.

"Chances are that it is not the issue governor so it won't need to be beyond our information. However, if this killer is exploiting it as much you don't think it need be, it might be very important in catching the murderer. In that case, it will come out." Lucky hated to cause scandal for the governor, but he had a job to do.

It took a second for the governor to consider the pros and cons, one Lucky gladly gave. This was something to consider: was it worth risking his reputation? The governor decided it was so he came right out with it considering his good friend's name. "My wife is having an affair but I cannot approach her about it until I have some evidence."

"You don't know who it is?" Lucky asked a sense of reluctance of having to bring it up himself. After Elizabeth….well he wasn't about to trust women romantically yet due to the scar.

"I have some criteria that they must fit but no." The governor glanced over at Emily; Lucky noted which made him think they knew something he didn't. He saw Emily shrug and the governor's pondering which raised his curiosity level. "I put Emily to the task of finding him earlier this week."

Lucky glanced at her and Emily again just shrugged. With the difficult times she has been having perhaps she traded assignments in order to get more time to handle that and work on it when she couldn't pursue the unidentified lover. He looked at her and the governor again. "So that was what the meeting was about." He said, connecting the dots easily.

"That was the main purpose of this appointment yes." The Governor nodded. "I wanted an update on what she found, if anything."

The attention of course, went to Emily with this. "Yesterday your wife definitely called this unnamed man on a pay phone." Emily had heard the hints easily-his wife was smart enough not to use a traceable phone but not in using secret code so their relationship was a given. "Whoever this man is, he was busy until tonight so they made plans to go to dinner tonight."

"Hmm…staying the night to care for her sick mother," The governor muttered quietly. Apparently the wife tried the nurse the sick excuse. "Did they say where?"

"No, she said that she would look into it and make reservations and then get back to him. I thought I would just tail her car tonight and have a bite to eat while they met and consider their behavior." Emily said her plan pretty logical.

"Nothing else?" The governor asked and Emily shook her head. "Well, I suppose it is more than I had before. You can only expect so much in a few weekdays."

Lucky sensed the Governor's disappointment as if it was also his, as it had once been. The governor quickly excused himself and told Emily to keep tracking his wife, showing them out with the same, but forced, expression and welcome behavior. Quite the convincing actor, Lucky admitted as they left the office building.

Checking his watch, he saw that the meeting was longer than he thought. It was just about the time he usually headed for lunch. "Well, that was informational." He commented.

"At your position yes, only makes mine more difficult." Emily responded, it almost being a complaint. "Although for some reason its making me think about Nikolas."

"He can't be the guy Em. He's in Greece." Lucky replied, then stopped blank when he realized they weren't talking about the same thing anymore. "Wait, you don't think…"

"All I'm saying is that the last time all four of us got together those two was acting a little strangely." Emily defended herself.

"It fits Elizabeth's pattern alright. Dump him once, try other familiar guys and then return when all goes wrong with other familiar guy." Lucky agreed cynically. "On second thought, I just might call my brother up tonight while you are working. Elizabeth deserves to know that there is no longer a marriage to come back to."

It also explained why Elizabeth left him without divorce papers and why Nikolas left and was not talking to him. She knew that Nikolas was only a temporary fling and thought he would stupid enough to take her back when that time was done. She had that wrong. He actually learned from his mistakes and she was a big one at that.

**1** Governor Massey is meant to be a fictional character which I place a disclaimer on so if there was or is a Governor Massey, know I do not mean them.


	14. Chapter 13

Without a price

Without a price

Chapter 13

Over another couple days, Lucky looked for the motive by asking all Murphy's friends, family, and acquaintances for possible secrets that can lead to murder. On the other end, Emily continued to trail the governor's wife but found a snag in their thinking. Apparently the boyfriend she was meeting that night was a new one, which meant that the affair they are probably tracing is the old one but finding an old one was a lot harder.

Emily was currently regrouping, planning another strategy to find the identity of the ex-boyfriend. Lucky in turn had a number of ideas but ones that seemed so slight that it was absolutely ridiculous that it could lead to the murder of a police officer. He was the one that said anything was possible yet it was nearing plain blasphemy.

He and Emily were working both angles and yet the murder case was still at a standstill. After working long hours, trying so hard to find the right connection, and looking at every possible clue they still had nothing. The frustration ate at Lucky's patience and it was when they met again at his apartment that it came to a boil.

"I hardly think a little lie about accidentally killing a hamster when the governor and his friend was ten would lead to murder." Emily commented as they reviewed his newest discoveries.

"I know. I hate to say it but this guy was a complete saint. He never lied, committed adultery, and his loyalty never wavered from the police department. He kept in contact with friends and helped them out whenever they needed help or were going through a hard time. He was great with kids and forgave every little thing." Lucky explained, not sure what any of them could do anymore.

"That never lied thing was probably the problem Lucky. Sometimes people are too honest for their own good." Emily pointed out, noting the tone of frustration in his voice. She was too but was too numb to feel anything at the moment due to lack of sleep.

"Too bad Elizabeth isn't one of those people. I just wish I knew where I went wrong. Cheating on her was wrong and I tried everything to make up for that but she never even considered actually forgiving me. When I worked long hours and she didn't like that, I took days off but she wasn't interested in spending time with me. Nothing I ever did was good enough for her. I trusted her but she didn't trust me." This confession came fast as Lucky could not stop his thoughts from coming out. He had been holding onto them for too long so it was probably time to spill.

"Exactly, so why do you keep punishing yourself? It takes two to make a marriage work and after one slip up she closed off her mind as she had for every other relationship she has had. While that shows you make mistakes it also shows that Elizabeth doesn't know how to handle the simplest conflict, or doesn't want to. She lives in an ideal world so when that is broke no one has a chance. What she hasn't taken into consideration is that her actions dictate how her relationships are to be. If she doesn't treat everyone else with respect, how is anyone else going to respect her?" Emily explained, "She is beyond anyone's help because like all her problems, she doesn't want to know that she has a load of bad karma following her in every relationship because of it."

"Then why can't I figure out this case?" Lucky accepted that Elizabeth was a lost cause but it didn't explain why he couldn't manage to solve that mystery. "For that matter, why can't you?" Lucky asked, flinging his arms up in the air, fuming with anger.

Emily looked at Lucky warily, replying "I sense an accusation in that last question." Her voice showed no sign of annoyance or anger, just a sense of calm that was enviable.

"It was an accusation. You were valedictorian, have many resource and talents, and seem to have everything going for you but you can't figure out one simple identity?" For some reason, this was her fault. He didn't even consider they were working to find a well planning mastermind when he said it.

Emily almost said something back and opened her mouth but shut it. She could say that things can be deceiving and that her life was not as glorious as it looks or even something that is an equally insulting but she chose to say nothing. Absolutely nothing.

As Lucky stood, seething with frustration and anger across the table the silence stretched on for a minute. A chair squeaked as it was scraped across the wood floor. Emily stood up, not making eye contact, looked down to find her bag, grabbed it and turned away starting to walk to the door. She looked back to see Lucky, hoping to see that he really didn't mean what he said but the hard, cold stare convinced her otherwise. He really did mean every word.

Yes, he was probably going to regret it and apologize and feel really guilty in a day or two but right now, at this moment, he was quite serious. Making a decision of her own, she opened the door and left, realizing that she didn't tell him what she wanted to tell him. Emily shook her head at doing so at this point, let him stew in his anger for a few days and then get suppressed by guilt. As much as she didn't want to admit, the words hurt, they really hurt.

As Jason got to the penthouse, he was exhausted and extremely depressed. As he entered he saw Eleanor's folder on the top of the desk. Reaching down to take the folder, he opened the drawer and put it inside, making a mental note to give it back to Stan. After all, the investigation was over and Emily was right. The place _was_ overcrowded and the whole quick adoption was a way to meet a certain status quo. The social worker who would evaluate Eleanor and Sam would just be tougher than usual as a result.

The adoption was legitimate. Yes, the father was still alive but incapable of taking care of the child and his next to living family didn't want to. Overall, it was best that Eleanor was Sam's which meant he now had to be out of her life, fully. He thought it would be easy so why wasn't it? Why did he desperately still want to be in Sam's life? He wasn't one to bother this much usually. Jason shook it off though, placing it on shock of his actions and not a true realization it was over. It would come, he'd just wait.

He opened his cell to see he had a voice message from his sister. Jason listened to it, frowning. "Hey Jason, its Emily. There's no need to call me back I just wanted to tell you I'm going away for a week or so. I doubt I'll get any cell service so I will be out of contact. I'll call you when I get back. Bye."

That was fine and quite courteous of her but still, where was she going and why did she have to leave? He'd try and get the answer when she came back. Meanwhile, he had other work to do.

Lucky didn't know about Emily's absence though because of their argument. He did, however, find out when he talked to the governor. He had done some thinking about how to find the old boyfriend and decided the direct way was probably best. He didn't want to subject the Governor's wife to that, none of them did, but it really was the only option. It might be better for the Governor to ask though. It was his issue so Lucky requested some time.

It took a few days because of an important conference was taken place but got in nonetheless. Finding himself, back in the Governor's office, he first apologized for the possible trouble he caused.

The Governor waved it away with his hand as he spoke, saying "It's all right. This is an important matter. David's death must be dealt with. What did you want me to talk to me about?"

"Emily, I, and you were right in trying the indirect route to find the lover but once it came out that there was an old one and a new one…it stopped working. Because she uses a pay phone we can't trace the number, I believe it is best to be direct." Lucky explained, trying to use the best words for this type of persuasion.

"Direct?" The Governor asked before he caught Lucky's meaning and sighed. "I suppose your right. Asking my wife is awkward but necessary. I just wish I had a motive to show her that it would be the right decision to be honest."

"I think I may have that." Lucky said after the man paused. "Correct me if I'm wrong but your circle of friends is of high status right given your position in politics."

"That would be correct." The Governor nodded his approval so far.

"Assuming your wife met him at one of your functions, he probably would have to have a good paying job of particular importance. If it gets out that he was having an affair….you might just have the right to fire him and make him look bad in the public eye. This old lover maybe protecting his reputation and job, which he probably thinks is important enough to kill." Lucky had come to this conclusion a couple days ago. Why he hadn't figured that out before made him feel kind of stupid. Not anymore stupider than he felt for yelling at Emily that night though.

"That must be it but I don't believe my wife meant for it to go that far. My wife and I have our issues and she is no saint but she would never want the lover to resort to murder. That could be why she broke it off, because she suspected such a thing. All I ask is that you don't arrest her for keeping that information from you." The Governor still found it in him to stick up for his wife even with the lying and cheating.

"As long as she cooperates I won't have to." Lucky told him.

The Governor nodded, standing from his desk. "My wife is currently having lunch. Now might be the best time to ask her. I almost wish Emily was here, Maria likes her and she would probably understand better as a woman."

Lucky wished the same thing. It would be nice to hear a woman's point of view but since he didn't know where she was, not that she would be talking to him anyway, it didn't matter. He followed the Governor to the dining room, where his wife just finished eating.

Maria was in her 40's but still quite beautiful with her blue eyes, brown hair, and a mature figure she gladly showed off. She smiled as she saw her husband but it fell when he asked for a few minutes. Boyfriends or not, she still loved her husband so maybe there was just something missing from their marriage, which caused her to look for other male support.

Lucky let the Governor smooth out the conversation before getting to the point. "Maria, I didn't want to get you directly involved so I went by indirect means of finding out who your boyfriend was but….it is more serious than I thought."

Maria opened her mouth and shut it, grimacing. "I knew you would but I guess I'm not cunning enough. I have had two boyfriends but last night, I realized that I was just running from my problems so I ended things with the second one and had dropped the first last week."

Lucky hoped that would help her to cooperate. "Mrs. Mason, I believe that your first boyfriend killed Officer Murphy because he knew of your affair and wanted to protect his job and reputation. I need to know his name in order to follow on the lead." Lucky requested, stating just the facts.

Maria's grimace turned worse. "You think that too? When we started our relationship, it was just so nice. He listened to me and supported me… he was a really nice man but then after a while he started getting a little…erratic and I didn't know why. It scared me so I called the affair off." She displayed a small smile. "Scott."

Lucky's mind thought back to where he was informed of the relationship between the Governor and Officer Murphy. When Emily reacted to the perfume that came off the DA… "Was his last name Baldwin?"

Maria looked to him. "Yes, Scott Baldwin. He's the District attorney for the small town of Port Charles."


	15. Chapter 14

Without a price

Without a price

Chapter 14

While Baldwin was no saint and did his share of breaking the law, Lucky had trouble believing he would resort to such drastic actions. He had been the inside corruption before but he had never gone so far-even he was smarter than that. He knew you could only mess with justice so much before it became obvious and well traced so what happened? Why did Baldwin loose his carefulness?

It was possible that during his affair with Maria he found a heart, he had certainly been happy enough for a month or so but would love even bow down his intelligence and capability to break the law and not get caught? Then again, it was not unheard of ex-boyfriends to go so far to kill the ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend out of jealousy.

Still, he needed to be careful if he was to see if it all added up. Yes, the motive and the inside corruption did say something but what he needed was solid evidence-not just speculation. And considering he needed it on the DA….well he was going to have to be clever and resourceful. He also needed Emily's help because he was clueless as to how to do that. Baldwin covered his tracks quite well in the evidence category.

Sure he could see if Baldwin registered for a gun, the kind used in the murder, but he could have also got it from the black market, borrowed it from a friend, and could have stole it even. Like Emily said, it was the common gun, just more circumstantial evidence. He needed concrete evidence.

Cursing himself for losing his head and possibly ruining Emily and his friendship, he shook his head. He had got himself in trouble at the worst time possible.

While Lucky did this, Maria looked at her husband. "I was sure Emily would be here."

"Emily had to go out of town and take care of some things." The Governor replied, smiling slightly as he was starting to see his wife again, that they were going to be all right, somehow.

Lucky caught that and realized that he should call, even asked about it previously. Whatever "it" was anyway. He didn't have a clue where she would be in order to "take care of some things." Somewhere along the line Emily didn't want to talk about it and the only thing Lucky did was concern himself with his murder investigation. He remembered the face Emily made immediately after his accusation.

It showed shock but it also showed a bit more. Whatever was going on was becoming too much for her to handle, and it was just building-physically and mentally. She didn't want to admit it though. Maybe it was time his priorities changed.

He requested a two days off at the end of the day after telling his boss his conclusion and given that it was Friday, that meant he had an extra two days. He had been working weekends, but had done so by choice rather than it was ordered because he wanted to solve Murphy's murder case so bad that it became an obsession. So, he had four days to find Emily and be there, help out and do what he could. The hardest part will probably be finding her. They both had changed so much, would she still go back to their old haunts? He didn't know but he was going to find out nonetheless and if that did not work, well he would have to use his many resources.

He didn't have to go that far luckily, finding Emily at the catacombs. Neither went there anymore because they had more responsibilities and a life outside that. That and the fact that it closed a couple years ago as it became a health hazard but Emily and him had gone there so often they knew every knack and corner and where you can sneak in. He didn't know why it came to thought, it was outside the city and isolated and easily forgotten as a result but for some reason it did.

After wandering for a bit, he heard some water steadily dropping, the sound distracting him so that he went on one of the less safer paths. The path wasn't finished and meant to be a dead end but the end of the track had fell and water from the outside started coming in through cracks in the structure and built a lake underneath it. It was dangerous, he knew, but took his chances anyway.

As he rounded the last bend, he saw a figure in the dark, sitting at the end of the broken track watching the water fall. The figure was sniffling and didn't hear his arrival, much too preoccupied with their grief and pain. By the time they noticed, he was one step behind them, reaching for his handkerchief, and handing it to them.

Emily looked up at his hand and almost laughed at the irony of Lucky's presence. She really should have foreseen this happening-would have if she was attentive previously. She took the handkerchief and allowed him to sit next to her. Lucky noted her tear stained face as Emily blew her nose.

Lucky stayed silent for a minute, allowing her to clean herself up. "It's dangerous here you know." He commented later.

"And yet you are here as well." Emily replied, much more level headed than he arrived.

"Yeah, well I kind of deserve getting harmed after what I said to you last week. It was wrong of me to blame you; I was just caught up in my drama when it was well apparent your life was not that great either." Lucky looked over at her and saw that quite well, even in the dark. She looked like she was on the brink of exhaustion and saw no opportunity to succumb to it which probably only made her further fatigued. "I'm sorry."

Emily nodded, sniffling once again. "I knew you were going regret it later," Emily told him, "that was why I didn't say anything back." She couldn't deny that the words hurt though, had for a while.

"You should have smacked some sense into me though" Lucky responded.

"It was tempting, I have to admit." Emily said, meeting his eyes for the first time. As he thought, they were red, irritated, and showed little spark of life.

Lucky wasn't sure it would help if he told her about Baldwin, even if he should, but did so anyway in order to really let the argument go. "So, I think I found Murphy's killer."

"Was it really the ex-lover?" Emily still had difficulty believing it was that straight forward, that that was the way they would find them. It was logical yes, but also very cliché.

"Yeah, and I doubt you'll be surprised but it was Scott Baldwin." Emily wasn't surprised, as her face showed no shock. "We don't have solid evidence on him yet though. Most of the evidence is convincing and distinct but face it, it's all circumstantial and that will not guarantee a guilty plea."

"No, it won't but that still doesn't change the fact that Maria will not love him as he loves her. It will seriously damage his reputation also. I mean this type of news can go national, you know?" Emily pointed out.

"It also won't let Murphy rest in peace. He was an advocate of justice and kind of deserves that, don't you think?" Lucky saw her point though but it wasn't enough, not nearly enough. Then again he was biased.

"Everyone deserves justice Lucky but that doesn't mean it will always happen. That won't erase the pain his widow is going through, or the fact that the kids he left behind won't have a fatherly influence in their lives." Emily explained, probably knowing too well how that feels.

"I'm not saying it would either. We need solid evidence Em, that's the problem and face it by now it's probably all destroyed if I'm right. He is the authority of the police department. If some piece of evidence is missing, they have to tell him and he will just continue covering for himself, again and again." Lucky emphasized this and shook his head. "It's just not fair. I know life isn't meant to be fair but this is just…especially unfair!" Lucky threw up his hands as a helpless gesture.

"Well, what could you do to make him act out and get caught, admitting all his deeds. Everyone is not above gloating if he thinks the listener will be dead." Emily informed him.

He, of course, thought of that but… "That's drastic to say the least Emily. I don't want to go that far. Putting someone out there as bait….that's wrong. I want to nail Baldwin but I don't want to risk another person's life to do it. That's one risk I don't want to take." He shook his strong stubbornly. "I'm not going to do it."

"Well then, what do want to do?" Emily asked.

"I don't know Emily. I hoped you would have another suggestion to be honest." Lucky admitted that he didn't have a clue what to do from here. His hands were tied. He had never felt so…helpless. It was unnerving and he didn't like feeling that way.

"I can't help you anymore Lucky." Emily stated, "You said yourself, he had the chance to destroy everything and probably did. You can't win this round; no matter how hard you try."

"Here's a question then: how do you accept this kind of failure?" Lucky asked, gnawing over what Emily said. He knows she is right, knew what she said long before she actually said it but didn't want to admit, out loud at least.

"Letting go this kind of thing isn't easy, knowing you could have done something but couldn't given the circumstances…" Emily paused, thinking of what to say, finding that her depth of knowledge was no good here and that that previous statement was all too true for both of them, making her feel even worse. She attempted to explain the situation as she saw it.

"Lucky…there are things in life that can't be logically explained or justified and all you know on the subject is that it was just what it was and when that something occurs its just better to move on. You will never feel it is right and it will probably haunt you that that all you could do was give up and move on but sometimes that's all you can really ask for." Emily quickly shook her head, desperately trying to shake off that hard truth that penetrated her and wounded her. She had to move on, she just had to move on! She could dally on this- there were things to do, people to see, and she didn't need to be held back by it, couldn't afford to be.

Lucky saw her struggle through the explanation and got the feeling she was trying to make sense of something, maybe the "it" he didn't know about. There was one way to find out though. "And what failure are you trying to accept?" Emily said nothing in response so he continued. "I mean it has to be pretty big if you were crying over it." Emily rarely cried and Lucky could count on one hand how many times he'd seen or heard about it, all in the time he had known her.

"It's not just one failure I'm upset about; it is so much more complicated than that." Emily responded as more tears sprung to her eyes and she pushed them away only to have more fall. She wasn't even using proper English grammar.

Lucky was more or less at a complete loss of what to do. Emily was confused to say the least and had not been making much sense during this conversation. Her vague responses were not helping at all either. He needed to broach her issues, her multiple ones apparently but if she wasn't making sense, what was the use now?

Lucky stood up and grabbed Emily's free hand to pull her up, something that startled Emily but she followed, finishing the motion and standing up. He let go of her hand and looked at her. "The first step in dealing with your issues is sleep."

"And where do you suggest that I do that? I'm not exactly in the best condition to drive to my apartment." Lucky was glad to hear that as Emily was troubled but not ignorant of her current condition. It showed she wasn't suicidal and prone to unnecessary risks.

"No, you aren't which is why I'm driving and we are going to my apartment. It's closer and safer." Lucky said and Emily nodded, giving into his diagnosis.

Author's note: Yet another update, this time with a lesson: never write a chapter when you should be studying for a physics test. The consequences are not pretty, let me tell you. Anyway, this is my last week of school and next week is finals so its a busy time for me but that just means I'm two weeks from summer break, when I don't have tests, assignments or anything and I can actually update. Cool huh?


	16. Chapter 15

Without a price

Without a price

Chapter 15

Later that evening, Lucky got a phone call from Nikolas. Of course, when Lucky answered the phone quickly in order to try and avoid waking up Emily, who was sleeping in the second bedroom, he never expected it to be Nikolas on the other side.

Lucky glanced at the clock and figured that it must be early morning there in Greece. Certainly too early for him, so he guessed this was a call provoked by intense guilt and self-hatred and thus difficulty sleeping. Still… "Nikolas, long time no hear," Lucky said, not sure how to accurately interpret the timing of the call. Why now when he has been gone for weeks?

"Yeah, I've been really busy." Nikolas answered, Lucky rolling his eyes. Oh, he was sure he was really busy, really busy spending time with his ex-sister-in-law, now girlfriend. It wasn't that Lucky was angry about it anymore; it was just annoying at this point to be continuously reminded of it. He just wanted to move on with his life. Like Emily said, it was just better to move on with these kinds of things and this phone conversation was not helping.

"Aren't we all," Lucky replied, feigning patience in order to wait until Nikolas said whatever he called to say. It was a long week, one that had tested that virtue too strongly and as a result, was in short supply.

"How's Emily?" Nikolas asked, still avoiding the issue he called to talk about, of course Nikolas didn't know he knew but Lucky still wondered when he would stop running from the issue. He probably did not care how Emily was, not seriously at least. It was just a reasonable subject to prolong the bad news and the gut-wrenching confession. A characteristic he apparently picked up from Elizabeth.

"The same as you last saw her," Lucky responded cryptically, a response that was justified and mysteriously vague at the same time.

"I see." Nikolas commented and proved exactly what Lucky thought-he really wasn't seriously concerned it was just a question to avoid whatever issue he called about. "I…there's something I need to tell you." Lucky blessed his luck. Nikolas was finally getting to the point of this whole conversation!

To prevent Nikolas continuing another avoidance tactic, Lucky grabbed onto the opportunity to clue Nikolas in and prove he wasn't stupid. He was and could be oblivious, yes, but he certainly wasn't dumb. "Nikolas, if you are having a hard time saying what I think you are going to say, I'll say it for you. 'I was sleeping with your wife."

"I…how did you know?" Nikolas stuttered, probably thinking that they covered well. However, if Lucky wasn't so involved with the murder case, he would have caught up on it.

"Emily actually. She noted that your and Elizabeth's behavior were off and that Elizabeth was gone and connected the notions and viola-affair discovered!" A hint of anger voiced its head into Lucky's tone but its source was more of disbelief that Nikolas thought he really was stupid. Of all the people he expected that from, he would have never guessed it would come from Nikolas

"You could never get anything past Emily, even if she didn't say it out loud," Nikolas recalled, trying to laugh with the comment and failed miserably.

"Nope," Lucky agreed, now thoroughly tempted to hang up on Nikolas now that he said what he wanted to say, but then realized that Nikolas could be the divorce messenger. "But since we are talking, do me a favor and tell Elizabeth that our divorce will be finalized within next week. It's a wonder how fast one can go if one spouse isn't present."

"You're divorcing her? She told me that she divorced you." Nikolas was obviously confused and trying to find the liar in the pair. Lucky would have laughed in Nikolas' face-figuratively anyway, if Nikolas said the liar was him.

"Pathological liars-the world is full of them." Lucky remarked cynically. "But, you know what? You can keep Elizabeth. You two deserve each other. Then again, she'll probably leave you like she left every other guy she has known and place blame on yet another made up excuse."

"She's already gone." Nikolas commented quietly, so much that Lucky could barely hear that.

"Wow, her timing has increased. First it was a year, later it was months, and now she's on weeks. That is quite the rapid change." Lucky replied, noting the increasing leaving pattern of Elizabeth. Lucky knew his comments were cruel but considering everything, he felt it was expected and deserved.

"Look, I called to apologize but you don't seem very forgiving…" Nikolas replied, "then again, I don't know if I would be either." Lucky counted his stars-Nikolas was actually considering it from his point of view.

"I could forgive you," Lucky considered, "but I'll just do this instead." He slammed the phone down and ended the call without another word. He glanced at the phone unseeingly until he heard a creaking door. He looked around the apartment and down the hall, which was where Emily was exiting from. So much for not waking up Emily, noble goal it was.

Rubbing her eyes and yawning, she sat down on a chair in the small living room. Lucky went to sofa it was near to and sat down and explained the whole conversation, actions and all, in three words. "That was Nikolas".

"That explains the cynical tone, slammed phone, and condescending words," Emily replied, nodding in understanding as she said this.

Lucky didn't realize that he was _that_ rough but then again he was biased and truthfully he could see it happening. "I didn't mean to wake you up." He apologized, feeling bad about that. He purposely let her sleep here in order to avoid loud sounds and there he was being loud.

"You didn't. I couldn't fall asleep no matter how hard I tried." Emily told him, shaking her head in order to push away some of the sleepiness she had. It didn't work that well. It was also frustrating, one time she let herself just sleep and she couldn't. If she had the energy she would laugh at the irony.

"Why? Is something on your mind?" Lucky asked, knowing he couldn't sleep when that happened.

"It's just that…earlier today…" Emily was having visible difficulty saying what she was trying to say. Seeing this, Lucky did not press her and let her have her time. When she did say what she had to say, it was direct and simple. "Vincent's dead."

"Dead?" Lucky asked, the word not quite hitting him as it should have. Of all he thought it might be, he didn't expect that announcement. "Did someone kill him?"

"He wasn't murdered, not by a person anyway." Emily answered, pausing to think of a way to explain the situation and decided on starting with some background information. "Ever since I've known him he was a heavy smoker. It was how he dealt with life's stresses and the issues he had. Back in those days, when he was a teenager…it was how you got to belong, you know? But also back then, they didn't realize the health dangers associated with cigarettes, or at least the companies didn't want it to be known in order to keep their incomes high."

Lucky nodded, seeing where she was going. He summarized the cause in order to help her explain the situation, like he did with Nikolas but this time it wasn't for cruel purposes. Emily was still digesting the fact that Vincent died much less the cause; she hadn't gone through the stages of mourning yet. "He was pretty sick huh?"

"By the time he got up the courage to see a doctor…the cancer had already began to spread." Emily responded. "The doctor told him that there was treatment options of course that could help but Vincent didn't want them. The only thing he wanted to do was die." That seemed awful cold and insensitive to Lucky as Emily said it, and, if asked, she would probably have agreed with his observation.

"He didn't have a reason to live?" Lucky asked and Emily nodded. That was hard to believe, however. "What about you? Aren't", Lucky started but then corrected himself as he noticed the present tense, "Weren't you important to him?" Lucky asked, pushing the topic more than he should, but what could he say? He cared. "You were his last living relative and yours as well. Didn't that mean anything at all?"

"Before his mother died it did. When she was alive, he enjoyed life and actually cared about other people but when she died… his personality did a radical three sixty. The worst thing is that he knew this and while he always said he'd change… it never happened. Eventually, the whole family stopped expecting him to."

Lucky nodded again, sensing the disappointment there. All Emily wanted was one family member that wasn't completely screwed up and selfish besides her mother and she lost her mother and that opportunity.

"At that point, he ceased to become family; he became…an acquaintance that couldn't be counted on but while that was so… there was also a certain reassurance that I wasn't fully alone in the world. Yes, he did not deserve the title of uncle, but to know he at least existed kept me satisfied that I didn't loose my entire family but now…" Emily shook her head and wiped away the tears that fell before continuing, "I'm really all alone in the world."

Lucky had heard it said that if you lost your family, that was truly when you had nothing left and Emily was probably feeling that way now. "What about the Quartermaines'?" Lucky asked, knowing Emily's issues were tight there.

"I don't even want to fix that relationship. It's always the same. Monica and Alan or any of the extended family members always pull something that ticks me off, which gets fixed later, and the cycle repeats as another pulls a stunt, followed by another and another." Again, Emily shook her head. "I don't want to go through that anymore; it's just too much work and energy."

"So you gave up?" Lucky asked for verification, not sure if that was the right thing but he could understand where she came from. It was also her life-not his. "That doesn't mean you are all alone Em. You have Jason, and me, and Sam. That's at least 3 people you didn't count."

"If you put it that way, you my as well count Eleanor," Emily responded, as if she didn't believe him. Then again, maybe she considered that but just wanted to be depressed at the moment. There were times he was like that.

"What does that mean?" Lucky asked, becoming annoyed with Emily's vague statements. Yes, Emily wanted to hide behind them now and he respected that but he also wanted to help and those weren't helping him do that. He could, he supposed, just let her have her space and not have to deal with an extra difficult Emily but he didn't trust her not to do something stupid and best friends didn't abandon each other. This was just the dark side of friendship and Emily wasn't usually difficult for too long so he decided to wait it out as he usually did but with little patience, it wasn't going to be an easy task.

"Well, if Sam is a friend, wouldn't Eleanor inadvertently be considered one too?" Emily pointed out but there was more to the question than that and Lucky knew it. Whether to push it or not though was questionable.

"Yeah, I guess… but you don't like Eleanor," Lucky replied, not knowing for sure this but that is what he got from her attitude.

"I don't hate her," Emily denied the statement. "I just don't feel comfortable when she's around. The baby is hardly at fault for my personal feelings."

"No," Lucky agreed, liking the fact that Emily was not so miserable she wanted to take everyone else down with her too. It really was just a phase but…"what are these personal feelings?"

"Exactly that: personal" Emily told him as she rose from the chair and left the living room. Way too personal for Lucky to know apparently. He would have to find out another way.

Author's note: Okay, so not the best chapter but an informational one at least. Hope it was at least temporarily entertaining.


	17. Chapter 16

Without a price

Chapter 16

Emily looked at the window out of the guest bedroom, watching the rain fall. She had dimly heard a door closing, meaning that Lucky had left and who could blame him? She was a drag today. Lucky had tried to help her, wanted to help her, but her shield was stronger than ever and acted up even if she had no energy, no emotions, and lost everything.

Lucky should have just ignored her, it was what she deserved. She had been depressed for a while but it came extra strong today. She was tired and sick of watching other people die and yet, at every round, here she still is, alive. She practically watched all her family die and fade away. At this point, attending funerals or memorials were second nature; she didn't feel a thing. It dampened her spirits to the point that she could just shrug such things off.

The question on her mind was why. Why is she still alive? What was she-a cat with nine lives? Of all the stunts she pulled over her entire life and gotten hospitalized, not one killed her. Sure, that youth bouncing back thing was accurate but there had been some serious bouncing on some occasions. Was there some kind of curse on her that she would be the last to die?

Yes, she had gotten stronger through all the rough spots but there had to be a limit of deaths, traumas, and other bad events. How much could one person stand before they just gave up and snapped? This whole life prospect was becoming too much for her.

She always believed there was a reason for her existence in which she was meant to do something and be remembered for it. She still hadn't found it. No matter how mature, how persistent, or determined she had been she was left with what she had previously. Nothing.

She felt numb and discouraged. Why should she just continue living if it was going to continue being this way? If her purpose in life was just to see people die, she didn't want to be alive then. Perhaps, she didn't deserve to be alive after her cruel treatment of Lucky, Jason, and somewhat her parents (they had at least had some coming).

Yet if that was true, she was still alive after everything. Maybe it was God's belief she would regret such treatment and she was one to have to repair it all, the first two anyway. She didn't know how though and then there was the fact that she really didn't care, not about her, or about anyone else. Sure, she knew it was stupid to just give up but her emotions were not exactly leading into a great motivational speech.

'I'm quite the piece of work, aren't I?' Emily thought as she swiped away some tears that fell as she laughed weakly. The question flowed through Emily's mind until she felt her eyelids fall and close, leading into an exhausted slumber.

Lucky didn't have a clue what he was doing this late on a Friday night taking a long walk. Most people are sleeping after a long night or just sleeping because it was a long and tiring week, possibly with a significant other. He had taken the walk hoping to clear his mind and figure out how to handle Emily. He really shouldn't have left, truth is told, the last thing Emily needed was to be left alone.

She was discouraged and lost nearly all of life's joys. He was terrified that he was going to lose another friend as Emily's mental condition worsened. He fully intended to go to Jason's at first, to ask about Eleanor, as he was sure Jason researched it as Sam was the mother, a girl he still had feelings for although he would deny that. However, when he reviewed his priorities, it was near the bottom of his list. He could do that later, when Emily was less depressed.

What he really needed was to show Emily that life could still be good. One effective way was to catch a murderer and he had a plan to do that, assuming Emily agreed with it. Emily would see justice in action and that might give her some hope for the world. It could lessen the depression she was in currently and even though it would have little effect, it could have some nonetheless and frankly that was better than nothing.

He turned around and walked back to his apartment where he struggled in front of the guest bedroom Emily was sleeping in after he realized the implications of his plan and the fact that he would have to wake up Emily. Yes, Emily needed sleep and so did he but his pawn would only be effective for so long too. He knocked on the door but received no answer. A part of him panicked at the thought that maybe she left to but upon opening the door saw Emily sleeping on the bed making such panic unneeded.

Guilt filled Lucky as he walked toward the bed to wake her up. It just wasn't right to do so when she looked that peaceful. In her sleep, it was the only way she would be peaceful, Lucky figured. Still, she could fall asleep right after he asked and she answered his question.

He shook Emily's upright shoulder to wake her and she slowly awoke, confused to her surroundings and the person who woke her up. "Spencer." She greeted, "I thought you left."

"I did," Lucky verified, "in order to go for a walk."

"A walk at 1 am," Emily said sarcastically, "very smart of you when it is dark, waking people consist of criminals, and dangerous with Baldwin, the most likely cop killer present."

"I never said it was smart," Lucky replied after he saw her point and realized she was right. He didn't take all that into consideration before he left but shrugged it off as it didn't matter anymore and got to the point. "Would you mind if I used Vincent's body in order to trap Baldwin?" There was a law that said you couldn't do this without permission and enough evidence, and he had both but he still had to consider Emily's feelings in the matter. Guaranteed he didn't see how he would be able to pull off a trap without her last relative's remains either but he wouldn't tell Emily that and pressure her into agreeing.

Emily blinked at this, confused once again. "Could you say that again?" She asked, not sure if she was hearing things. She was awake so it couldn't be a dream but she couldn't believe Lucky asked that either, at least without further verification.

Lucky expected a response like that. It wasn't exactly a question you hear everyday. "I asked if I could use Vincent's body in order to trap Baldwin." Lucky repeated himself.

"Explain" Emily softly demanded as she sat up and looked up at him warily, half asleep.

"Well, if I spread a rumor that Vincent knows who killed Murphy, Baldwin will make a move." Lucky continued on Emily's mark: raising brows as she considered his plan. "Baldwin will want to kill him right in order to hide his little affair and all. So if hidden police surround the general area in which your Uncle's body lays, they will find Baldwin with some weapon, prepared to kill an already dead body."

"That is a really loose connection Lucky. While it will show that Baldwin is capable of murder and further support your theory, he could deny that he went to kill him because he heard Vincent could identify him. Some killers don't need a reason to kill, they just do it because they like to so it's not exactly irrefutable evidence that he killed Murphy."

Emily's point about the flaws in his plan hit him. She was right. Maybe he'd just have to go with the destroyed reputation. It was not enough justice but at least it was something. He couldn't exactly let Baldwin get away with murder and skip all the consequences of his actions, whether he was convicted or not.

"I know but I have to try. At the very least, it will hit the newspapers and become so big that Baldwin will never have such a legal position again and his reputation will be destroyed. That has to account for something." Lucky argued.

"And by using my uncle's corpse you avoid the unnecessary risk of risking a human being's life" Emily concluded going back to his plan and question, making it sound optimistic and yet very cruel at the same time. She considered the request for a minute or two in which the silence almost drove Lucky crazy and while he understood she had to think it through, he was on an adrenaline high and wanted to act now. "I suppose he will be cremated… but the cancer has done more to his body than you know and it might not be the best corpse to use." Emily said, and then relented at the hope in Lucky's eyes. "But hey, if you think you can pull it off, be my guest."

For the first time in a long time, Lucky smiled. "Thanks Em. You won't regret it. You'll see that justice does prevail and that there is hope in the world."

"That's a pretty lofty goal," Emily remarked, not convinced of his hopeful implications but Lucky knew in a matter of time she would be, had to be. Emily rubbed her temples and muttered "You are so lucky that I haven't reported his death yet."

Lucky's smile turned into a frown. "You haven't?" It could have been a problem-if Baldwin would have looked in the computer records he probably would have caught onto the trap. He was indeed lucky but was also curious why she didn't.

"No, I just left. I'm not sure why I ended at the catacombs but I just needed to get away from my problems for a while." Emily explained.

Lucky nodded, understanding that. Suddenly, fatigue hit him like a crashing wave. Maybe he should sleep and go to his boss tomorrow and get an agreement in order to go through with it. Talking it over with Emily helped though, as she had pointed out the spots that could be criticized. "I'll let you sleep then", Lucky replied, leaving the room.

Sam on other side of Port Charles had a difficult time sleeping in comparison, regret taking over. 'The one time Eleanor is quiet and asleep and yet I can't sleep', she thought ironically in her bed and turned over to look at the phone.

She hated admitting it but she missed Jason a lot. Maybe she gave up on the relationship too early, maybe she wasn't fully committed at the time they broke up and didn't understand the priority it was. She thought that Eleanor and her would be fine alone and without a man of the house and it was for a while but now that they were settled painful guilt and regret overwhelmed her.

The social worker had come today and approved of the apartment, of her health and care, and understood that she was working on the job. She still had to get back to her on the last thing but the social worker had seen the difficulty in getting a job in such a tough economy and at such short notice. She just wanted a job verification paper when it came after seeing how determined and persistent Sam was in her job search after she told her of the number of interviews she's had, how many places she put in, and how many hours she put into it.

And with the job came the duty of finding a day care for Eleanor or some full time babysitter which made her remember how Jason had saved the day with her dentist appointment. He was reluctant but came to her aid anyway. That was one of the reasons why she still loved him. He was reliable and generous but he was also strong and protective and those were qualities she always liked in a man. When she wasn't strong, he could be until she was on her feet again. That's what happened with Lila.

So she admitted it: she was still in love with Jason. The question was whether she wanted to try dating again and whether he did. She thought he was still in love with her after she recalled all their conversations but like her, did he want to try it again too? Or was there some other woman? She would have to ask him tomorrow as it was too late to call him. He'd probably be up working, Sam considered, but quickly pulled her hand back from the phone. No, she was going to call tomorrow.


	18. Chapter 17

Without a price

Without a price

Chapter 17

Early the next morning, Emily woke up to find Lucky gone. Assuming he went to check with his boss on his plan of catching Baldwin in the act, Emily made herself some coffee, poured it in a cup, and sat at the dining room table drinking it slowly. In between sips, she heard the door knock and considered just letting the person get the message and go away. However, Lucky out of the goodness of his heart allowed her to stay here as a guest and doing so would probably be disrespectful to him and the favor he granted her, so she stood up.

She walked to the door and opened it, not really shocked to see Elizabeth at the door. For a second she thought why she wouldn't just open the door, as she still held an apartment key but then realized that Lucky must have changed the locks after she left, making it an impossible task with a wrong key.

Elizabeth was obviously surprised to see Emily there, this early on a Saturday, at her and Lucky's apartment. "Emily," She said somewhat breathless as if she had been running recently, which was possible as a number of stairs had to be climbed to get to the fourth floor apartment.

"Elizabeth," Emily greeted, turned around, and left the door open as an invitation for her to enter the apartment. Lucky might not appreciate it but that was probably the reason Elizabeth was here. She would find Lucky absent, however, so she would also probably leave before he came back.

Elizabeth entered, closing the door behind her and glanced around, seeing only Emily present in the apartment, assuming the bedrooms or bathrooms weren't in use. Everything was the same as she left it. Lucky must have not cared to change anything, or must be too busy working on that murder case. "Lucky's not here?" She supposed.

"Nope," Emily replied, going back to her coffee and taking a long sip. Silence fell, making Elizabeth uncomfortable while Emily enjoyed it, practically ignoring Elizabeth. Then again, her and Emily had been at a stalemate for a while. All they had in common kind of just disappeared between the years of high school and the present and she hadn't a clue of how to get it back.

"I, uh, left some stuff here before I left. Do you know where it is?" Elizabeth asked, suspecting that it wouldn't be here, but at her grandmother's but the silence was stifling her.

"Not here," Emily answered absently. It was probably at Audrey's though, at least that was what she would have done if she was in Lucky's shoes. It would also mean that Elizabeth wouldn't have a reason to stick around. Like Lucky, she had stopped caring for Elizabeth's well being; the only difference was that she stopped caring all together.

"Do you know when Lucky will be back?" Elizabeth asked, answering Emily's nagging thought that there was another reason for her coming here. She would try the getting back together thing again. How predictable. You would think she would learn after two cycles in more than five years how predictable she was becoming and how it was ruining her and Cameron's life. Guess that was hoping too much for Elizabeth's static personality.

Emily returned to her one word answers. "No," she said and took another slow sip of her coffee, wishing that Elizabeth would just leave but then she continued on with her questions, trying to understand the scene she found herself in.

"And you're staying here as a guest then?" Elizabeth guessed. She highly doubted Emily had moved in. She was always an independent soul and liked living by herself and she worked in New York City, so having an apartment there was practical. And there was no way that Lucky and Emily were dating. They didn't like each other like that, although others would have said the same thing about her and Nikolas too. Maybe that wasn't as set in stone as she assumed.

"Yep," Emily agreed after nodding as well.

"I suppose Lucky is pretty angry, huh?" Elizabeth asked, not sure that Emily would answer that, understanding but getting annoyed at her simple, vague, one or two word answers.

"Was," Emily responded continuing her careless answers to Elizabeth's questions. Lucky was angry at a lot of things still but on other issues, he just let it go and moved on but technically Elizabeth's question was in the general sense.

"Was?" Elizabeth repeated, smiling at that. Maybe she could win him back yet. She had done it before and she could do it again.

Behind her, the door lock was being played with. She turned as Lucky opened the door and entered. Lucky saw her, looked away and walked past he, much to Elizabeth's chagrin. Elizabeth fumed inwardly at his rudeness as he ignored her and went straight to Emily.

"What'd he say?" Emily asked as Lucky sat down after he poured himself a cup of coffee.

"Well, he pointed out all the flaws as you did last night but he agreed. To say the least, he found the plan kind of unusual." Lucky explained to her, barely registering his past that stood there in his apartment. She'd get the message soon enough that she was no longer welcome in his life or his apartment as when she left; it pretty much told the landlady that her lease rights were voided.

She still owed the money for the last two months of rent, with interest though but he wasn't going to tell her that. She would find out on her own soon enough, the bill had probably been sent to her grandmother along with her credit card ones. She was heavily in debt and he wasn't expected to care a darn as the ex-husband.

"You're using a corpse Lucky, if he didn't think it was unusual I would wonder why. If anything, a weird reaction is to be expected." Emily pointed out as she finished her cup, pointing out the…uniqueness of the plan. In the back of her mind, she wondered how Elizabeth took that sentence context in but really didn't care enough to find the answer or even make an educated guess.

"True," Lucky said, agreeing with Emily's point, inwardly laughing at the face of disgust that was on Elizabeth's face. She had seen death so many times as a nurse and yet she was terrified of it, although there was a rumor that she had become careless with her patients and was on her way to loosing her nurse's license, if she hadn't already. "I'm going to need your help though."

Emily feared she would hear that from Lucky but knew in the back of her mind that she had to face her problems sometime but that didn't mean she wanted to. "Fine," Emily agreed hesitantly.

Lucky sensed the reluctance and stretched his hand out to put his on Emily's. "Hey, I'll be right there. Whatever happens, we have each other." He told her in order to comfort her. Elizabeth started to feel noticeably left out. She knew they were ignoring her but now, they were acting as if she really wasn't there and here was her husband, trying to console Emily, right in front of her.

Emily looked at him warily but ended up nodding to his assessment. "Then we might as well leave now before I lose any motivation to do so." She stood up and walked to the kitchen to place her coffee cup in the sink, and to give Lucky and Elizabeth some time alone. Things needed to be said.

"What about me?" Elizabeth asked him directly, facing him and finally having his attention.

"What about you?" Lucky asked her, not sure what she was talking about.

"I'm your wife; shouldn't I know what you are doing?" Elizabeth told him, putting her hands on her hips in annoyance, realizing that she wasn't being specific enough in her questions.

"Ex-wife. I filed for divorce while you were having fun with Nikolas in Greece." Lucky replied, searching his desk for the papers. He found them, and threw them in front of her. "You'll find all the information in there." And there were plenty of more copies around town if she threw a tantrum and burned them.

Elizabeth looked down at the thick pile of papers. She should have expected that after she found their joint credit card not working. If there wasn't a marriage, why should the card still be active? She had to use the last of her savings in order to get here. Still….surely Lucky couldn't be serious so she fought his accusation. "You have no proof that I was having an affair with Nikolas."

"On the contrary, it seems that Nikolas has a conscience and is guilt-ridden, unlike you. He called last night in order to confess." Lucky responded, walking away into the bedroom.

"I…you can't do this to me, to us. What we had…" Elizabeth stuttered and Lucky laughed, mocking her. So she was trying that cliché answer. Here he thought she was original in her pleading. Everyone's wrong sometime in their life, he supposed as he glanced around the room. A click of heels announced that Elizabeth stood in the doorway of the bedroom.

"Was never there to begin with. You said a lot of things and the sad thing was I actually believed you. You said you loved me but the contradictory thing is you don't have a heart. I make one mistake and try to make up for it but then you aren't interested in putting the time or work in needed in order to fix the relationship. Therefore, your response is to go and start an affair with my brother of all people, promptly leaving the relationship for an extended absence. And now, in the present time, you are begging to be taken back, after all you've done." Lucky pointed out all the right things, as Elizabeth realized that she had really screwed up this time around.

Elizabeth didn't know what to say to that, settling on "Emily said you weren't angry anymore."

"Did Emily say in what context what I'm not angry at?" Lucky asked her, looking at her in the face as he was ready to give her the cold, hard truth and not care one bit how she would take it.

"Well, no." Elizabeth admitted.

"Exactly, so unless you want me to point out everything that is wrong with you, this situation, and your little pattern of feigning love then cheating, then leaving and start the whole thing over again with another pair of guys and conveniently forgetting to use protection so you end up 'surprisingly' pregnant every time, I suggest you leave now." Lucky explained, going off on a rant that hit every nerve. He really did know where to point his criticism, Elizabeth thought, and remembering that the truth was one thing she could never handle, leading to an ignorance of issue which resulted in her present issues, she scrambled for her few last remaining rights.

"Well, technically I still live here so I need the new key." Elizabeth argued.

"No, you don't. In the fine print on the lease, by leaving all your rights to this apartment have been lost and if you don't believe me ask the landlady. You owe her two months rent anyways." Lucky told her, turning away and starting to grab everything he thought he might need for his set up, placing them on the bed as he found them.

"So that's it? You're through with me, all ties lost?" Elizabeth supposed, watching as he grabbed a bag from the closet. He opened it and tossed the chosen items in.

"I kind of thought that went without saying" Lucky commented.

"This is a small town Lucky. We're going to run into each other sometime." Elizabeth yelled, at her rage of being thrown aside, like she had done to Lucky.

"Then I'll just ignore you as if you don't exist because, as far as you are concerned, you don't. Now excuse me, I have a job to do." Lucky said as he passed by her, the bag hanging off his right shoulder.

"And what about Emily," Elizabeth asked.

"What about Emily?" Lucky murmured, rolling his eyes at her antics.

"You're dating her, aren't you?" Elizabeth answered, seeing something Lucky certainly didn't.

"I'm not dating Emily. I'm helping her through a hard time, which is what friends do. She's not the happy, out-going, optimistic girl that we used to know in high school if you haven't noticed."

Elizabeth took a long glance as Emily left the guest bedroom, shutting the door, recalling the earlier treatment. "What happened?"

"Well, if you stuck around and started to see what was happening in other people's lives, you would know, wouldn't you?" Lucky told her. "What did you honestly expect? That the whole town would just stop because you aren't here to pick up on the town happenings?" Lucky shook his head. "I don't even know who you are anymore." Lucky murmured as he left the room.


	19. Chapter 18

Without a price

Without a price

Chapter 18

"Okay, it is as bad as you said." Lucky admitted, grimacing at the sight beforehand. While the smell of death had yet to come, Vincent's leftovers were pale, thin, and very sick looking. He wouldn't pass easily by as alive, as Lucky expected. He knew that lung cancer caused malfunctioning of the inside but never really believed that physically things would change that much. Boy was he wrong.

Emily said nothing in response, looking away and around the room. It was quite large but the dark red color that colored the walls in an attempt to make a sophisticated look made it seem otherwise. She had never liked the color herself. While she didn't go for the bright colors, neither would she go for the dark ones.

"Well," Lucky continued, "I suppose if we keep the lights off and make the room dark, I don't Baldwin will notice."

"If Baldwin needed to put on a light in order to murder someone, he wouldn't have got away with murder period. A light means someone is in the room and the perfect way to get caught." Emily replied, somewhat on the defensive due to the circumstances around her. She didn't even want to be in the house, much else where Vincent's body was. It was just too soon.

"True," Lucky agreed. "The smell is going to be a problem. Eventually, it is going to start decomposing. A candle could help I'm sure but that would give light. We're going to need one of those smelly objects that you plug into the wall. Less inconspicuous."

"And let me guess, you have one is in that bag of yours." Emily said her tone a bit condemning.

Lucky noticed but ignored it, giving where they were. Not the best of memories for her, he was sure. A chair was near the bed, and that he assumed was where Emily was when her uncle took his last breath. The pain was too raw, Lucky realized. By asking for her help, he was just splaying salt into the too open wound. The best thing he could do was get what he needed from Emily and let her leave.

"Okay, we need to close the curtains on the windows and tuck the blankets around him so he seems like he's just taking a short nap." Lucky instructed. Emily nodded, going for the curtains first. She took the window on the left side of the bed and he took the right. After that was done, they struggled to put the blankets around him more naturally. Vincent was tall, heavily built, and intimidating even after his passing.

Lucky looked around the room, searching for locations that policemen can hide. It would be too predictable to do the closet or bathroom but there was pieces of furniture around the room. The furniture was large too. If they put them near the ends of the wall, leaving enough room for a man to maneuver, any person was covered by the shadows of the furniture.

It took more effort to move it, as the furniture was made of a hard, heavy, sturdy wood that added to an already difficult task. By the time the dresser, night stand, a table, and a large bookcase were moved, they were both out of breath, exhausted by the effort. They left the room and went to the kitchen, where Lucky sat and asked Emily about the house.

"So there's four ways to enter the house: through the basement, kitchen, front door, and the backyard?" Lucky verified.

Emily nodded. "There used to be one on the side of the study but a brick wall replaced it because it was unneeded."

"We better have someone watching every door then. I don't think Baldwin will walk through the front door but I'm not taking any chances." Lucky explained. "The doors stationed around Vincent's room- do they squeak?"

"The doors are heavy like the wood the furniture was made of. With the carpet, they don't scrape across the floor but the hinges might be rusty. I can't recall if they have ever been changed or oiled." Emily responded.

Lucky stood up. "Do you happen to have some oil somewhere in the house?"

"If there is any, they'd be in the shed in the back." Emily tilted her head to the backyard. "The lock is probably so rusted though. I doubt the key would work but I'm sure you can pick the lock."

Lucky grinned at her, feeling the adrenaline run through him. "That was already the plan." Lucky took two steps to the kitchen door when he looked back at her. "There doesn't happen to be any rats in there right?"

Emily was not impressed with the question. "You are scared of rats but not the cop killer you are preparing a trap for?" Emily asked him incredulously.

"Have you seen their eyes in the dark? Its like two narrow red lights that watch you're every step and the worst thing is you know it." Lucky informed her, smiling when Emily chuckled slightly. Things were starting to look up.

"Just open the doors shine a light across it, and they will scramble run out of the area." Emily suggested as Lucky inclined his head, seeing the logic in that. He returned shortly with the oil, unharmed.

They put it on the hinges and figured out how the doors could be angled so that no one would know that people were hiding behind the doors. A wide range of angles was available for such purposes because the thick, heavy wood the doors were made of.

"How steep is the roof?" Lucky asked, after they were done with that.

"Way too steep for a man to hide on and not be seen. You're going to have to stick to the ground, second floor, and maybe the third floor." Emily told him, seeing where he was going.

Lucky cracked a smile, seeing that while being here bothered Emily, it was helping in the tiny bit of ways. Emily usually could see behind his questions, with the exception of the last couple of days, which led him to believe that she was on the way to healing. Which then left him to believe the worst part was last night, when everything really shrunk in. Before, Emily pushed it away and decided to deal with it when she thought she could but last night was the unexpected time to do so, leading to a breakdown. Seeing this, Lucky believed it could only get better at this point.

Lucky looked around, mentally checking the to-do list he had. He did everything he could to make the trap seem less obvious but a check in with his boss maybe just be necessary. Even he wasn't perfect and may not have considered some things.

"I think we're good then. I need to call my boss and see if I missed something though. But if all is fine, we can leave and I can take you back to my apartment." Lucky explained.

Emily nodded numbly, following him down the stairs.

Meanwhile, Sam was winging her hands, trying to calm down her nerves. She had hoped being around her calmly sleeping daughter would have helped but it only made her even more nervous. After all, Eleanor would be affected by this choice of hers too. As she decided not to think too far ahead in that respect, Sam left Eleanor to continue her afternoon nap, which only left her to pace her small apartment nervously and wait for Jason to come a knocking.

She felt foolish being the one to make the first move but it was her fault they broke up in the first place too. After losing Lila, she wasn't thinking straight, felt so insecure and as a result threw away the one good thing she had in her life. If anything, it had to be her to strike up the conversation. That didn't make the guilt go away though. People told her admitting her mistake and trying to fix them would grind the guilt away but so far the guilt only grew.

She jumped when a knock sounded on the door. With every step towards the door, her feet felt like lead, reluctant to lead her into rejection. If that happened, however, it would be justice served. She opened the door and put on an inviting expression. She invited him in and closed the door.

She cleared her throat, in order for her to allow the words she wanted to say came out. "Eleanor is sleeping soundly upstairs. She's fed and changed so she shouldn't have any reason to interrupt us." Sam said to reassure herself more than him.

Jason nodded to that. "So what did you want to talk about?" He asked, looking at Sam, expecting.

"Us, or I guess the lack of." Sam introduced, winging her fingers once more. "When I said it was over previously, I felt uncertain about everything. I just lost my daughter and I didn't know how to deal with that so I just pushed everyone away, including you even though you were trying to help me."

Jason had a blank expression on his face, seeing that coming probably. "And I'm not saying that was right, because it wasn't. I'm sure I wasn't the only one in pain." Sam paused after saying this, trying to get to her point now. Rambling would not help. "But now, I realize all these things. Eleanor will never take the place of Lila and I never expected her to but she's taught me a lot. The least lesson being that some things are not meant to be and obviously Lila wasn't."

"Some things are meant to be though and maybe we are one of them. I never really gave our relationship a chance to show that though but I'm hoping that a second chance might." Sam risked a glance at Jason who was looking at her critically. "Not that I deserve it or anything or will do anything drastic if you disagree. I'd completely understand if you felt differently." She'd understand and be heart broken but she'd move on and deal with it somehow if worse comes to worse. "What do you think?"

Jason wasn't sure how to respond to that. He saw this discussion coming of course and he did indeed miss her but he didn't know if that was enough. "I think that I need to think about it and get back to you." He answered, which was a partial blow to Sam's hopes but knew that it could go either way and that was better than a straight "no" for sure.

Sam nodded, "That's a good idea." Sam conceded. After Jason left, she went back upstairs and glanced at her daughter. She had awoken and was reaching for the rattle near the side of the crib. Picking up both, she handed Eleanor the rattle who promptly shook it and smiled, enjoying the sound it made.

Sam gave a watery smile. She may have lost Jason but she started a new job Monday and Eleanor was still with her, so overall things were finally looking up.


	20. Chapter 19

Without a price

Without a price

Chapter 19

As Lucky and Emily left the house, a couple of other officers arrived to cover Lucky's absence. The trap was officially set, the rumors sent out and dispersed along the police department and legal offices. There was to be a set number of people watching the property at all times until Baldwin was caught.

But as Lucky parked his car in his apartment parking lot, Emily's cell phone rang. Emily answered it, quite shocked at who was on the other line. "Oh, Mrs. Massey. Hello".

Lucky tried to hear what the Governor's wife was saying but she must have been too soft spoken. He couldn't hear anything except Emily's responses. "Yeah, I could but why?" Emily said. "What didn't you tell us?" A few seconds passed before Emily responded again, glancing over at Lucky. "Yeah, he's with me."

Lucky truly had no idea what they were talking about but he was led to believe he was involved and that it had to do with Murphy's murder. Suddenly, Maria's voice became more of a screech and Emily had to pull the phone away from the ear. "Okay, okay, we'll come. Where do you want to meet us?" With an "okay", the conversation ended quickly after.

Emily was having difficulty understanding Maria's behavior so it took a minute or two to sort it out in her mind and tell Lucky the line of conversation. "That was Maria Massey. She wants to meet us at the park in between Port Charles and New York City."

"Why Frankfort park?" Lucky asked. "She has to know that it isn't the safest place to go." The park was rarely went to because the many gang groups tended to go there to "solve their differences".

"I'm not entirely sure she remembered that. Her behavior, it was…erratic. She was so determined to meet us, she must have just picked the best place in between our two towns to decrease waiting time." Emily theorized.

Lucky restarted his car. "I guess so." Lucky agreed, "but something doesn't seem right."

"Maria isn't right in the head period, not that the Governor wants to admit this. He's an optimistic person and always wants to believe the best in people, naïve though it is." Emily murmured.

Lucky looked to her quickly before pulling out his car of the parking spot. "Explain."

"Maria was very sheltered as a child. Her father was a politician so she knew the arena well. It was how she met Michael actually. Michael was rallying against her father so they got into this huge argument. It ended in a stalemate because both had good points neither had considered. So, they went and had coffee and started dating, marrying later." Lucky knew that this all wasn't the point, just an introduction Emily thought was necessary. He feigned patience and stayed quiet so Emily could get to the point.

"Their first year of marriage was rough, with him fighting for a political position and she realizing how sheltered she was. There was so many things she didn't know. She was remarkably naïve, like a three year old. The only reason the marriage survived was Brian. It was a complete surprise to find out they were expecting a child and allowed them to see that they couldn't go on being selfish and only thinking about themselves. They had to connect for themselves, for their son."

"Their marriage was strong until Brian was 16, when Maria got pregnant once again. This time, however, she miscarried. It tore her apart, from what I hear. When she was younger, she never even considered that could happen, her father didn't allow her to. She was his little princess." Lucky nodded, seeing where she was going now and that the introduction was necessary after all.

"Her father died soon after her miscarriage and she moved on yes, but the scars never healed and she never did really get over the losses. She's been fighting off depression for years, not that she allowed anyone to see that."

"So what made her mindset finally crumble?" Lucky asked, his eyes on the road in front of him.

"Brian's death. The factor that really held the marriage fell through at that point. Maria started having affairs and Michael, for some reason, just closed himself off and left Maria to deal with it on her own while he pushed himself in his work. Neither wanted to accept his death, the pain it held. Their marriage is on a precarious balance act because of it." Emily finished.

"I guess so." Lucky shook his head. The more he learned, the more he disliked how Americans thought politicians were perfect. "So what did she forget to mention?"

"She wouldn't say, just said 'that's why we have to meet.'" Emily replied.

"Vague to say the least," Lucky complained and he was sure Emily agreed.

As they arrived at the park, Lucky said a quick prayer and checked that he had his gun and that it was loaded. He didn't know what to expect. He glanced over at Emily as she got out of the car. He only hoped he didn't have to use it. It would not help Emily's current state of mind if he did.

Forcing some reassurance into his voice and gathering courage, Lucky pressed them on along. They were to meet at the gazebo in the middle of the park. As they neared, the more nervous he got. This was a bad idea and both him and Emily knew it but neither could see themselves turning back at this point. He was going to curse himself later for this though, that was for sure.

Maria was sitting in the gazebo when they arrived. She stepped down from it to meet them. "Thanks for coming. I know you probably had better things to do on a beautiful Saturday like this." Her hands were folded.

"It's still early in the day," Lucky said, looking at his watch. "So what did you need to tell us?"

Maria looked increasingly unsure of herself. "This actually," Maria replied as she held up her hands which when pulled apart held a gun. Lucky instinctively pushed Emily behind him and cursed. This was not good.

Lucky studied Maria. Her hands shook and her eye movement was erratic, never staying on one thing. "Mrs. Massey, you don't need that gun. I'm sure everything can be worked out just by talking."

Maria shook her head roughly, her breath becoming shallow. "No, no it can't." She disagreed.

"Can you tell me why talking won't solve this at least?" Lucky asked. Maria didn't want to hurt anyone, not intentionally anyway. Baldwin must have played with her mind.

"I don't know, Scott just said…" She paused then continued, raising her voice. "He said that the police wouldn't believe that I didn't kill David." She started sobbing uncontrollably. "I didn't want him telling Michael of my affair anymore than Scott did but to murder him? He had a family, two kids to help raise. He didn't deserve that."

Lucky didn't even take that into consideration but found some place to start. "We all know that Baldwin killed Officer Murphy. You were never a suspect."

"He planted evidence that could say I did!" Maria exclaimed.

"He destroyed every piece of evidence Maria. That is why this whole murder investigation was difficult." Lucky replied. "He made sure that the whole police department didn't know that Officer Murphy and your husband was close friends."

Emily pulled away from Lucky, to try and help now that they had something to work with. "He's right. I had to tell him of the relationship. Baldwin is just playing with your mind."

For the first time, Maria saw Emily clearly. Emily wouldn't lie about something like that. She was blunt to a fault, the one quality her son hadn't appreciated. Still, she was skeptical and Emily and Lucky saw this.

"We can help you, really. I know Baldwin can seem intimidating and frightening but everyone in Port Charles knows he has an evil side. He's always had one but no has ever been able to pin any offenses on him." Emily explained.

"Though people have tried. I'm sure when you were having your affair, he showed a caring, loving side you couldn't see but the only person he cares about is himself and he's trying to put this blame on you so he can escape any punishment for his actions." Lucky assisted Emily, helping Maria see the dark side of Scott Baldwin.

"By killing you two, he said that I could finally be free, won't have to be scared of getting arrested for something I didn't do!"

"By killing Lucky and I, you'll only be doing his dirty work." Emily argued, but Maria seemed to have been tuned them out.

"Scott was going to take care of the other problem…." Maria murmured quietly. Lucky and Emily glanced at each other, catching the meaning. Baldwin had fallen for Lucky's trap. Neither could believe it either but that was one killer down, now to deal with Maria who just might become one herself.

Both Lucky and Emily took one step closer to Maria, who was now on her knees, trying to make sense of everything. If they were to touch her, for sure she would fire on instinct, but if kept a good distance away but close enough to get through to her, no one would get shot today either.

Lucky and Emily were both struggling to figure out what to say. Lucky's cell phone rang during this silent standoff. The sound made Maria's breathing harder, her grip on the gun tighter. "What's that?"

"My cell phone. It's probably one of my coworkers telling me that they have arrested Baldwin." Lucky explained.

"Scott's been arrested?" Maria asked, not truly believing that Baldwin got caught.

"Yes, it is well known that he is the murderer. The lack of evidence says so and maybe Baldwin will try and blame you but we know better." Lucky told her and saw Maria getting some control back. They were finally getting through to her.

"And we will say so. With us backing you up, you will not be held responsible for anything. But if you do use that gun, you lose any help you will get and Baldwin will win." Emily continued, seeing that her words hit as the gun fell out of her hands and onto the ground.

Maria, sobbing and shaking heavily, kneeled down. Emily walked to her and comforted her while Lucky took the gun from the ground and finally allowed himself to breathe easily. For a while there, he was scared that either he or Emily would truly get shot, given Maria was less than rational.

He looked down at the gun. It would probably be better to say this scene never happened in his report. Maria would still need help of course, but it would be better for her politically and sanely if they just said this meeting never occurred. Unless the gun he is holding is Baldwin's.

"Maria, where did you get this gun?" Lucky asked, hoping to hear that it was her husband's.

Maria looked up at him, not quite making eye contact. "Michael. His father had a couple he inherited. They're locked up in the basement of our house."

Lucky breathed easily again. That was good to hear given the day he was having.

Looking around, the park was empty as far as he could see. It would be best to leave now while it was. "Em, we should probably leave."

Emily looked up at him and nodded. "Maria's car is probably around here somewhere. I'll drive it and her back home and then I'll call her husband. We probably need to talk." Emily replied.

"Good idea." Lucky agreed, "I'll follow you. I should be in the discussion too."

Emily nodded again and helped Maria up. Lucky helped and hoped that everything could be sorted out. He didn't want anymore surprises today.


	21. Chapter 20

Without a price

Chapter 20

As the door behind them closed, Lucky and Emily sighed with relief. To say the least, the governor had been surprised but had assured them he'd keep a watch over Maria. He knew the affair would become public news now, his reputation trashed but he was thinking it was for the best. If it meant saving his marriage, it might be worth the sacrifice. Maria needed attention, far more than he realized before, his attention. It was true that he had threw himself into his work and was now realizing the error of his ways but there was fortunately still room to make up for it.

Neither of them said a word as they walked toward the curb where Lucky had parked his car. They were tired, irritable, and sick of surprises for the moment.

As they climbed in the car and got settled, Lucky turned to Emily. "I need to go to the station and see what's up but I can drop you off at my apartment where you can get your SUV first."

Emily nodded, and responded "that would be best. I should get back to my apartment. I haven't exactly been there for the last week. Who knows how many bills arrived since then." Lucky agreed inwardly, remembering he had a couple to pay as well.

When they arrived at the apartment building, they separated but as Emily were walking toward her vehicle, her phone rang. She looked at the caller ID. It was Jason, who Emily hadn't talked to since their last conversation. Time to face yet another problem, Emily thought and answered it. "Hello?"

"You're not the easiest person to get into contact with," Jason commented on the other end.

"Neither are you at times." Emily remarked, reaching for her keys as she reached her vehicle.

Jason silently agreed with that assessment, continuing. "Do you have time to stop by?" He asked, meaning his penthouse.

Emily took a second to consider how to respond. Yes, she really should get home and take care of business, eat, and maybe get some sleep but…."Yeah, but why do you want me to?"

"I need advice," Jason admitted, which was saying a lot. Emily, however, doubted she was one to be giving advice at the given moment. She hadn't made the best decisions either recently.

"And you're asking me?" Emily said skeptically. "I mean, isn't Sonny good for that?"

"He's not here, besides he couldn't help. I need a girl's opinion" Jason explained.

"The last time I gave you advice on the female gender you completely denied what I was saying." Emily remarked.

Jason saw that one coming. "What do you want me to say? That I was wrong and you were right?" He seemed a bit annoyed at this but Emily was quite annoyed herself so it was probably contagious. He also just admitted the error of his ways which made Emily feel inclined to meet him half way.

"I can stop by before I head back to my apartment." Emily gave in, stifling a sigh, telling herself it wouldn't be a good idea to plead an excuse. She really did need to go to her apartment and take care of business but to do so she also need to focus and doing so would be hard if curiosity took over her.

Jason agreed to her response and let each other off the line. Unlocking her car, Emily climbed in and drove to the apartment building parking lot and then took the elevator up to Jason's penthouse. The bodyguard nodded and opened the door for her, obviously being told that she was coming over.

When she entered, Jason was coming from the back of the penthouse. They quickly overlooked each other, not quite sure what to say or do although the argument was minor and easily let go. Figuring that silence wouldn't help, Emily spoke first. "So…what do you need my advice on?"

"Relationships but maybe I should ask to your well being first." Jason checked his watch. "It's barely two and it looks like the day was heavy on you already."

"It's been a long, tiring week," Emily explained shortly which Jason accepted with a nod. "What kind of relationship are we talking about anyway?"

"Romantic. Sam wants to give our relationship a second chance." Jason conceded.

Emily flinched inwardly. She has done the dating thing on and off but had yet to succeed in holding one beyond a year. Still, if it helped to hear the situation from a girl, maybe she might be of help. "And you're not sure if you want to as well?" Emily asked rhetorically. "Jason, you tracked down Eleanor's adoption records just to know she won't get burned this time. You obviously still want her."

"Your right, I do want her back and I gave up my search when I did find the adoption agency was getting crowded but I continued it for another person's sake, not mine or Sam's." Jason justified his later actions.

"I never asked for your help in that area. You know as much as me that Eleanor's biological mother's claim is ridiculous." Emily argued, letting Jason know he was treading on thin ice here.

"So you did know." Jason suspected as much, albeit she had a point about Eleanor's claimed father.

"Yes, I did and I'll have you know I took care of it the minute such an accusation was made and do not appreciate it be putting back into any conversation, much less this one." Emily, irritated, said in order to let the issue be gone.

"So what was her goal then?" Jason asked.

"Why would anyone make something like that up? Money, she had no idea how much infants would cost to take care of although that probably should have seemed obvious in the beginning." To say that Eleanor's mother was the sharpest crayon in the box would have been a lie but anyone could have figured out the expense of having children was high when one looked at the price of diapers, food, and furniture needed.

"So your uncle did have a trust fund." Jason realized.

"Yeah, he did but because of his new ex-convict status I was put into control of it until he could be responsible in the state's eye again." Emily explained.

Jason rubbed his temples, thoroughly confused but there was time for this later. "You'll have to explain the whole situation to me later but I have pressing matters now. I need to know what to do about Sam."

"Well, what reason do you have to not get back with her? I mean she realized her mistake and is willing to make up for it and if anything she's being honest." Emily responded.

Jason, however, pretty much knew everything Emily noted. "It's just a risk, that's all." Jason replied weakly.

"You're scared of a risk?" Emily asked incredulously. "You're a hitman for a mob boss, have police watching you all the time just waiting for you to get caught, and risk your life in the process but you can't seem to okay the risk of a relationship? Besides this isn't the first relationship you've been in."

"This is different, this is…Sam." Jason argued.

"Yeah, and I'm pretty sure she is aware of the risk she is taking as well. Come on, it's not like she asked you to marry her. I may not have the best dating record myself but I know dating is a courtship; you get to know each other and see if you blend and if you do, and then make it permanent." Emily pointed out as if all that should have been obvious but to a man, this might not be true.

"I know that much Emily." Jason told her, annoyed at her consistent but true points. "I just don't know if I want to take the chance of it slipping away again." There, he said it. His worst fear.

Emily suspected Jason took the break up harder than he showed but now that it was out in the open, admitted, she was astonished. Jason was acting out of character although she seemed to bring out the worst in people these days. It was a talent she could live without though.

"Then I can't help you Jason. I could sit here and tell you its worth the risk if you feel so strongly and that you may live to regret it if you don't take the chance. Oppositely, I could tell you are right, that it probably won't work out, and you are best not taking the risk but I'm just your sister. I wasn't the one in the relationship, I was at the side lines and you seemed generally happy with Sam and Sam…I don't have anything bad to say about her. You two…just fit, so much that while I was happy for you I was also jealous of what you had." Emily paused for a second before considering what to say next.

"Personally, I say go for it but in the end, I'm not going to be the one in the relationship and have to deal with all the issues. If you aren't going to be happy and second guessing sam and you though, it just may not be worth it. But the decision is up to you, considering its not my life."

With that said, Emily left and Jason barely noticed, too deep in thought. He had a lot to consider but despite what Emily thought, having an outsiders opinion helped, made him see things in a different light.

Author's note: Confused about Eleanor's mysterious genes? You should be. All will be explained next chapter though and much thanks to the reviewer who requested an update-I did need a nudge to not do homework for once. It takes over your life which just makes it plain evil. And for the record, I'm quite aware that my characterization is off and that Emily doesn't have a personality. Sorry about that, unfortunately not much I can do at this given point of time.


	22. Chapter 21

Without a price

Chapter 21

When Emily finally got to her apartment and stopped by her landlord to pay her rent, the only thing she wanted to do was sleep but knew she should go through her mail. She quickly organized the large pile and pulled out the bills that needed to be paid and sent in the mail soon. There didn't seem to be a reason to let her credit rating go down in the process of everything else.

Glancing at the time, Emily realized that if she hurried, she could catch the mail carrier before the day was over. Having one thing done would be a relief to her so that she could tell herself the day wasn't a total waste of time. She did so and then came back, sorting the rest. Half of the pile seemed to be advertisements, which irritated her. So much paper wouldn't be needed if those things didn't get sent in the first place. Then she came to stare at the large manilla envelope.

It was from a cancer research facility she had applied to for medical school before she questioned her choice of career. It wasn't a surprise it would take so long to get to her as the facility was prestigious and had many applicants every year. When she applied she knew well that the chances of her getting in was slim but told herself that she had to try at least.

When she didn't get a response back last month, she admitted defeat and accepted the rejection but maybe she had been too hasty. She couldn't bring herself to open the envelope though, cowardly though it was. She feared rejection but knew it was likely and yet wouldn't know what to do if she got in either. It was an annoying contradiction but it was how she was feeling.

She rose, hoping to find an argument that would logically mean she didn't have to open it but found none. When she was about to reach and open it, a knock on her door sounded. Not sure how she should feel about getting a reprieve in getting her answer, Emily rose and answered the door.

Emily blinked in surprise as she saw it was Sam and Eleanor. She didn't know why Sam should be here. She knew she probably got the address from Jason but that was it. Her and Sam weren't enemies either but still, they had no business with each other. A casual conversation when they ran into each other was the most contact they ever had.

Neither said anything for a few moments before Sam realized she should probably start considering she was the guest. "Hi, can we come in?" She juggled Eleanor awkwardly, showing that she was nervous.

Emily pulled the door open and wide so the request could be met. "Have a seat," Emily invited Sam as Sam walked through the door. Emily closed the door behind her as Sam took a seat on the couch.

"Thanks," Sam muttered, rearranging Eleanor so she could lean against Sam's chest. "I know this is unexpected."

"Yeah, that's a good term to use." Emily answered, unable to deny the discomfort she was feeling. "So, how can I help you?"

"Well, I was talking to Jason and saw that he researched Eleanor" Sam started, staring at Eleanor while she looked around at her surroundings. "Which prompted my curiosity and one would think some anger too." Sam, in fact, was not angry. In theory, she should be but she wasn't which led Sam to believe that she was too shocked at Jason's conclusion to prompt the emotion.

"Jason was misguided when he started the investigation." Emily commented, feeling that that was one thing they could agree with.

"Yes, that's true." Sam responded. "But nonetheless, he made a most interesting conclusion."

"A most interesting conclusion that is incorrect despite what Eleanor's biological mother said." Emily corrected her.

This shook Sam out of her numbed state of mind. "Really? So Eleanor is not your cousin?"

"No, she isn't so you don't need to worry about any claim to your daughter I might make up." Emily verified.

"Then why did Eleanor's mother lie?" Sam asked. It was not surprising that she would lie, indeed, everyone has told a little white lie here and there but to lie about something this serious was shocking.

Emily would rephrase the question as "continue to lie" because she felt Eleanor's practically convinced herself it was in fact true. However, the problem was that there was no solid evidence of such a claim and Emily doubted any would ever be found. "I don't know," Emily answered truthfully. "She took that explanation to her grave."

Unable to dispute that, Sam conceded the question's answer was forever lost. "I guess, but that doesn't explain why Eleanor isn't your cousin. What piece of evidence says he isn't?"

Emily hoped she wouldn't ask that but admitted Sam did have a right to know. Still, it was awkward trying to explain the evidence. "My uncle wasn't into women." Emily replied, deciding to stick to the barest of details.

Sam was expecting some test results, a blood type contradiction, something biological, not a sexual orientation explanation. "That does seem to be strong evidence." Sam admitted. "Did that bother you?" Sam asked curiously. She heard from the media and from people that did and they all had different opinions. To be related to a homosexual was different though, a more present issue.

Emily said nothing for a moment. "No, not really. I mean when I caught him kissing another guy when I was taught that it was to be a woman, I got confused for a little while." Emily admitted.

"That must have been awkward," Sam replied.

"It was. You know the quote that said 'the fog was so thick you could cut it with a knife'? It applied there and for what felt like minutes, I just stared at Vincent, trying to figure out what I had walked into. Luckily, he explained to me there was two types of relationships: homosexual and heterosexual. After that though, I just shrugged it off and accepted it." Emily explained. It had been one of Emily's earliest memories and although a weird one, one she treasured. It reminded her of a time when she didn't feel so alone.

Sam smiled, looking down at Eleanor who was snuggling against her, trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in. "When we're younger it's easier to accept things like that but when we're older, it seems like we are just so jaded that if we rethink our views it's a crime."

"Yeah, and the older you get it seems the more narrow minded you become. Change becomes harder." Emily agreed, adding to Sam's observation.

"And yet the more it's needed. I know this is premature but I sit there and think about what kind of person I'll be when Eleanor grows up and has kids of her own, if she does." Sam shook her head, pushing away the thoughts. "There are so many scenarios that could happen."

"A lot can happen in that time duration" Emily told Sam, even though she knew Sam knew that. "The future is the most scared time sense because of it and I'm sure Nell's case is no different."

Sam was nodding until she heard Emily's second sentence. "Nell?" Sam repeated, growing more confused as Eleanor looked up at her, stopping her squirming. "Is that what her mother called her?"

"Yeah, apparently it's a nickname she gave Eleanor. I never thought too much about its significance but Eleanor seems to like the name." Emily said, motioning to Eleanor.

"Thank you" Sam answered, surprising Emily. "I've been thinking for days how I go by a nickname. I mean, no one calls me Samantha and I got used to that but then one night I woke and realized that Eleanor didn't have one. And now she does." Sam had a genuine smile on her face as she said this.

Emily nodded in response, leaving that mystery to another day. To her it wasn't that special but to Sam maybe it was and she would have to accept that. Everyone had different values.

Sam looked at Emily before speaking again, wondering if she had the right to ask what was on her mind. "Do you like your uncle then?" Sam asked, previously catching Emily's tone.

Emily looked at Sam, surprised at the question. "I don't know." Emily told her, going on to explain. "I've been thinking about that a lot but I don't have an answer yet and I'm not sure if I ever will." Emily paused, once she realized nobody but the police department and her knew he was…gone. Sam took the silence for something else though and sought to apologize.

"I'm sorry, that was pretty forward of me." Sam said. "I just never really had an uncle. It makes me curious what others were like."

"Then I suggest you look for another example because I never really considered him an uncle. To me, the term was some sort of title that has to be earned and he never did but I guess the term is easier to say 'my father's older brother'" Emily replied.

"That could be why the term was coined." Sam agreed. The silence stretched. "I guess I should go. Eleanor's naptime is near but I'm sure we'll run into each other again." She picked up the diaper bag and then stopped again before making her way to the front door. "Uh, me and Jason got back together."

If Emily was surprised, it didn't show. "That's good. You compliment each other."

Sam laughed nervously. "Yeah, we do, don't we?" Another pause came as Sam was building up the courage to ask a question. "Look, if Jason and I were to go to dinner one night without Eleanor, would you mind babysitting?" Emily was significantly surprised with this question. "Eleanor seems to like you and you have experience with children through Michael." Sam felt she needed to justify the suggestion.

Emily nodded. "That'd be nice." Sam smiled, taking a deep breath. She had been worried that wouldn't go off so well. The uncle question was one thing but the babysitting thing after the fiasco Emily had probably worked so hard to fix. Feeling she was going to say something else that may not go off well next though, Sam decided to retreat. "I'll be in contact then."

When Sam was gone, Emily was left alone with the untouched envelope. She turned away from it though, feeling decidedly unwell. It had hit her near the end of her and Sam's conversation so when she was silent and stuck to short phrases, it wasn't Sam's fault. It was her keeping the ill feeling in check. The last thing she needed was Jason worrying about her health because assuredly Sam would have told him. She would have told him with good intentions of course but Emily didn't want to deal with that.

After all, her dizziness, lack of attention, and migraine were more due to lack of sleep, food, and a very stressful day than anything serious. But most of all, she hoped sleep would allow her to take a break from her current situation. She'd figure it out and connect the dots later.

Author's note: It's hard to believe that I finally finished this chapter. It's actually been on my computer for half a year but between school and writer's block, it had to come together in small parts. Well, if anyone is still reading this story I hope you enjoy it. There should be another chapter and I'm thinking of doing a sequel to this story. If you have any thoughts on the chapter, proposed sequel, and the last chapter feel free to review or contact me.


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